


Puppet With A Heartbeat

by Mogatrat



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Mid-Canon, Nuts and Dolts Week (RWBY), ft. a cameo from shadow of the colossus.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:42:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23496949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mogatrat/pseuds/Mogatrat
Summary: Penny has a slight malfunction that seems to only trigger when around Ruby. She's determined to get to the bottom of it, but when she takes Ruby out on what appears to be an easy solo mission, things get out of hand quickly.
Relationships: Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose, Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 59
Kudos: 344





	1. Flutter

**Author's Note:**

> All pieces of this work were written for Nuts & Dolts Week 2020! This first chapter is based off of the prompt "First Date."

Penny paused just in front of team RWBY’s dorm, her hand hovering over the door’s open button. She felt...something, an unfamiliar tension in her chest. She made a note to check her wiring later, then pulled up the mission dossier she'd pulled early that morning, running it through her mind again. Low risk, recordings preferred, a fair distance out of Atlas. As it had the last fifteen checks, it matched Penny's criteria perfectly.

Step two of Project: Investigate the Ruby Factor was due to begin. Any second now. Penny had waited out the whole night for this. Now that the moment had arrived, she needed to be careful to assure the project's success.

The usual entry into RWBY's dorm would not work. They would be confused and concerned if they realized Penny had chosen a mission for Ruby rather than taking them all to the briefing. Weiss had recently started insisting that she share missions with her partner, as well, which was part of the reason Penny had begun this project in the first place. Any awareness on team RWBY's part that anything was amiss could ruin the entire experiment!

Penny only somewhat understood the concept of stealth through observation of the Ace-Ops and Blake, but she decided now was the time to test her capability. With that set in place, she finally opened the door and tried to keep her footfalls light as she approached Ruby's bunk. The team all seemed sound asleep, save for a stray twitch of Blake's cat ears.

_Modulate voice down to 30%. Rise on tiptoes to compensate for lower volume. Approach Ruby's ear._

"Ruby," Penny said, and Ruby bolted upright in her bed and hit her head on the ceiling.

"Wha—Pen—"

Emergency.

Penny quickly clamped her hand over Ruby's mouth and scanned the room. No change, save for another twitch of Blake's ears. Penny recalled a gesture that had been pointed in her direction many times, and put a finger to her lips.

"We have to go early today, Ruby," she said, still trying to keep her volume low. "You and I have a mission!"

"Just us?" Ruby asked, blinking a few times, her eyes meeting Penny's. Penny felt a _click_ , then an unusual temperature spike: the phenomenon she had named The Ruby Factor. The worst part of it was that it always caused a gap in her speech processing. It took almost a full second to reply.

"Yes! No more is needed. Come on!"

“Bu—Penny…” Ruby yawned. “How come I didn’t get to choose?”

Penny looked around, checking on the team. “I’ll explain outside. Your team needs their rest. You never seem tired, though. Like me!”

Ruby laughed quietly to herself. “Not exactly like you, but okay.” She started to shift, swinging her legs over the side — Penny realized with a start that she was about to hit the floor and possibly wake Weiss, and so caught in her midair. Ruby’s eyes went wide, and her cheeks turned red; a curious thing that happened to many members of the two Beacon teams at times, which still puzzled Penny.

“Quietly,” Penny whispered, carrying Ruby towards the door. Ruby pursed her lips and nodded, averting her eyes from Penny’s face. Penny tiptoed to the door, sparing one last look behind her as it opened.

To her horror, Blake’s eyes were open, and she had a little smirk on her face. But she just winked at Penny and closed her eyes again. Penny felt the Factor again and stepped out quickly, letting the door close behind her.

A moment passed as Penny considered the best way to start her explanation, and Ruby cleared her throat. "Uh...you can put me down now." 

“Right! Of course!” Penny deposited Ruby onto the ground. “Let’s get to the armory. There’s no time to waste!”

“There isn’t? Is it that urgent?” Ruby asked, cracking her back. “Should we have the rest of the team for it?”

“I...no, but, I want to get started soon,” Penny admitted. “Before the others wake up.”

“How come?”

Penny was used to being the one asking all the questions. This was a change in the paradigm she hadn’t anticipated. “I...wished to spend time with you alone,” she said, that tension returning to her chest. Definitely worth a check-up when she got back. “Just the two of us.”

“I...oh!” Ruby said, her cheeks reddening further. “Wow! Okay!” She broke out in a smile. _Click._ “Then let’s go! What do you have for us?”

Penny did her best to explain the mission as they headed to the lockers and Ruby got herself dressed and combat ready. Ice fishers north of Atlas proper had reported seeing a new and unusual type of Grimm, and the Academy wanted recordings and observations of them. Penny would be flying the two of them out in an airship, as she wanted to test her piloting skills, and if they ended up in combat with the beasts her recording ability would be unimpeded, unlike sending a human with a camera. The Grimm were reported to be small and slow, showing little interest in the humans who came across them; but of course, they were still Grimm, and thus must be at least somewhat dangerous.

“Anything about what they looked like?” Ruby asked as they headed to the hangar. 

“The fishers said they’re like flying snakes,” Penny replied, opening the door and pausing to let Ruby through first. “Doesn’t it sound exciting?”

“I wonder why we’re just finding them now,” Ruby mused. Penny darted ahead of her to get to the airship and start prepping it for flight. “Salem can create new Grimm, I think, but we don’t think she’s based all the way up north, right?”

“No, that’s what’s unusual. Perhaps they are very old Grimm who’ve been trapped in the northern ice for some time?” Penny suggested, climbing into the pilot’s chair. 

“Wouldn’t that make them more dangerous? And bigger?”

“Not necessarily! If they’re in suspended animation of some kind, they don’t grow and learn as they normally do. It’s not uncommon for new Dust mines in Solitas to encounter frozen Grimm,” Penny said. “Still, I welcome the chance to work with you, Ruby. I hope you feel the same way.”

“Yeah, of course I do,” Ruby mumbled as she buckled herself into the co-pilot’s seat, her cheeks turning red again. “It’ll be fun!”

“The site is two hours away. You can catch up on your sleep while we fly, if you want. I know you need rest, and you find traveling dull.”

“Well, when you’ve walked across all of Anima it loses its appeal,” Ruby admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. “Thanks, Penny. Wake me when we’re there?”

“Of course.” 

After Penny got the ship into the air, she took a look over at Ruby’s seat, and found that she had already closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair, breathing steadily. Penny found herself smiling, and that now-familiar increase in core temperature, though it came without any hitches or clicks. It felt...nice.

Ruby was special. Perhaps that was all there was to it.

But Penny didn’t just accept such things without proof.

* * *

_She stares from the edge of the arena, hands locked up in fists. On one end of the stage, Pyrrha stands unsteadily, her weapons bending and shifting in her hands as Penny readies her swords on the other side. Ruby calls out to them, but no one can hear; no one stands in the bleachers, and Mercury just stands beside her and laughs._

_Penny’s swords fly at Pyrrha, a smile on her face, grace in her movement as she directs them. Pyrrha throws her arms out in fear, and the swords turn back, fly past and around Penny, and the tiny strings that tether them to her wrap around her arms and chest. It happens as it always does, and Penny falls in pieces to the floor, and Ruby is calling and calling but there is no one here, no one but Mercury, who laughs and laughs and laughs—_

“Ruby,” Penny said, and Ruby jolted upright in her seat. “Ruby? Are you all right? You’re breathing very heavily, and your body temperature has risen.”

Ruby’s eyes focused on the girl in front of her, brow furrowed in concern. “Did I cause you to grow ill by interrupting your sleep? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean—” Penny started to babble, but Ruby took a deep breath and waved her off.

“I’m okay, Penny. Just...a bad dream,” Ruby managed, sighing. 

Penny frowned. “I find it most troubling that such things have a physical effect on you.”

“Yeah...emotions can do that. You have no idea how bad it can get, Penny. It must be nice to be able to feel things in your head and not have them hit your heart,” Ruby murmured. 

“I...that is actually something that may be happening to me, on occasion,” Penny admitted, standing back and nervously shifting her weight. “Thank you for the insight, Ruby.”

“Oh, uh...no problem?” Ruby peered around Penny, looking out of the cockpit. “So are we here?”

“Yes! I noticed your condition earlier, but thought it wise to set down before I investigated. I am sorry you did not sleep well,” Penny said. “We are situated on top of an ice shelf above the plains where the Grimm were spotted. Are you feeling well enough to start?”

“Yeah. I, uh — don’t worry about me, Penny. I have that dream a lot. I can handle it.” Ruby unbuckled herself from the seat and picked up Crescent Rose from where it rested on the dashboard. “Let’s see if we can find these flying snakes.”

The two of them stepped out onto the ice shelf, and Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose and laid prone at the edge, looking out over the frozen plain below. Small holes dotted the landscape, and near each one she could see floating black dots that seemed to waver and oscillate against the blinding white. She peered through her scope to get a better look.

They did somewhat resemble flying snakes, though only in general shape. They had clear segments to them, with three bony plates on top of their bodies, surrounded by a loose, wavering muscle mass edged with feathers that seemed to be the way they moved about in the air. On their undersides, Ruby could just barely see orange sacks, which she assumed were gasbags like those of an airship. What she assumed was their head had a long, bony mouth shaped like a tube, and their tails were stubby with lengthy feathers at the end.

She let Penny take the scope to see for herself after describing them to her. They didn't seem to be moving with any particular purpose, just aimlessly floating around the fishing holes. As Penny drew back from the scope, she asked, “Do you recognize them from any old stories? Fairy tales? I haven’t been taught too many of them…”

Ruby pursed her lips, thinking about all the fairy tales she’d been told as a child, and how many now seemed to be true. Something came to mind, an image, an illustration of a great Grimm beast that swam through the air like an eel. “I can’t remember its name, or its story, but I think there was a tale about a Grimm like those. I thought it’d be bigger, though,” Ruby remarked. “What do you think? Should we go down and fight them?”

“Uh — not yet! You need your breakfast!” Penny said suddenly, jumping to her feet. “I packed you food!”

Ruby felt her stomach growl and laughed. “Good point, I could use some Grimm-fighting fuel. You think of everything.”

“Just one moment,” Penny promised, darting into the airship and returning a moment later with a basket in one hand and a blanket in the other. “Yang said you liked these, and also to spread this on the ground so it would be more comfortable,” she said as she handed Ruby the basket and started laying out the blanket.

“You...talked to Yang about this?” Ruby said, feeling her cheeks heat up. Did everyone see it, like everyone saw how Yang and Blake acted around each other? It felt so embarrassing…

“I asked her what sort of food you liked, and she mentioned the sandwiches at the Cotta-Arc house. She said you ate five?”

Ruby coughed. “Well, you know, I’m a growing girl…”

“And you expend tremendous caloric energy with all your fighting! So I packed ten. Just in case.” Penny smiled wide at Ruby as she opened the basket and discovered that there were, indeed, ten neatly wrapped sandwiches inside.

Ruby giggled. “You’re too kind, Penny.”

“Am I? I hope I’m not coming off as awkward. I’ve really been trying to work on that,” Penny said, looking away. 

“No, no, it’s an expression, I really appreciate it.” Ruby sat down on the blanket and started unwrapping a sandwich as Penny knelt down. “Do you...have anything to eat? Or whatever you need for fuel?”

“Oh, no, my aura can actually keep me powered indefinitely. So long as I have power, I have an aura, and so long as I have an aura, I can keep using it to fuel my body. My father is so smart,” Penny gushed. “Of course, if too many vital systems are damaged, I will shut down and lose my aura, but I suppose you know that.”

“...yeah,” Ruby said, distracting herself by taking a huge bite out of her sandwich. Penny busied herself with peering through the scope while Ruby ate, describing their movements while Ruby...sort of kept staring at her. She looked so content, happy to be here with her first friend, doing her job as the protector of Mantle. _Maybe I should do that too,_ Ruby thought to herself. But there was something she'd wanted to say since Penny came back into her life that needed saying, and now felt like the most right time there could be.

As Ruby finished off her first sandwich, she relaxed onto the picnic blanket. She needed to enjoy this for a moment, before she spoke up. Penny, ever alert, turned from the scope and asked, "Did I pack too many after all?"

"No, it's not that. I was just... thinking." Ruby swallowed. "After the Fall of Beacon, I kept...thinking about the people I'd lost there. I kept wishing I'd spent more time with you, and Pyrrha. I'm really glad you came and got me this morning, Penny. This is nice."

Penny's eyes — lenses? — widened, and she coughed (she could do that?) and looked hurriedly back at the scope. "I am glad too," she admitted quietly. "When I was rebuilt, I was afraid I would never see you again. General Ironwood told me I wouldn't have time for friends.”

“But you never paid him much mind, did you?” Ruby asked, smiling and remembering hushed plans to sneak out of Atlas and join Beacon. 

“I pay him...some mind. What he says matters, but...”

“You matter too. Your thoughts and your ideas and your feelings.”

Penny froze in place, and Ruby could swear she heard a strange ticking sound before Penny turned her head away from the scope and looked back at her. “I...thank you, Ruby. Winter and I talk about that sometimes, but she always disagrees with me.”

Ruby sighed. “Well, looking at how Weiss has been dealing with her, that’s not a surprise.”

Penny giggled to herself. “They are not like you and Yang at all! There are so many ways to be sisters. It’s been interesting being with all of you.” Penny turned back to the scope. “I hope it never ends.”

Ruby smiled at her and took another sandwich. For a while, it was quiet between them, as they traded off shifts watching the snakes while Ruby let herself digest her brunch. During one of Penny’s watches, she suddenly said, “Oh!” and looked over at Ruby.

“Come see! More are coming out!” she said, waving Ruby over just as she was contemplating a fourth sandwich. Penny scooched over on her stomach and laid next to Ruby on the blanket as she let her take a look. Ruby put one eye to the scope and found it focused on a particular fishing hole, where there were, indeed, more of the small snakes than the last time she’d looked. As she watched, a jet of black liquid suddenly splurted out from the hole, flying high into the air and forcing her to track it with her scope. Just as it began to fall back down, it spread out, flinging more ooze across the ice as the snake unfurled and its gas bags expanded beneath it. It shook itself a few more times, then began lazily floating around the hole with its brethren.

“There must be some kind of nest down there,” Ruby said. 

“Exactly my thinking. We should start clearing them out as soon as we can so we can get to the bottom of this,” Penny said, standing up. 

“I’ll start sniping them from here. Why don’t you fly up and be my spotter? In case they notice what’s killing them,” Ruby suggested. Penny nodded and stepped considerately off of the blanket before activating her rocket boots and flying high into the air, her swords sprouting from her back and floating in a halo around her body. Ruby fired her first shot and smirked at seeing the Grimm fade away into nothing, all its fellows turning to watch in seeming confusion. Maybe this Grimm was made back before humanity had high-powered sniper rifles in its arsenal. Its loss.

She took out a few more, and they still didn’t seem sure what was hitting them at first. A few loud _cracks_ sounded across the ice once she’d cleared out one of the holes, and Penny shouted something from above.

“What?” Ruby called, raising herself above her weapon and looking out over the plains. The Grimm had all vanished, and she just barely spotted a tail darting back into one of the holes. More booms started to echo across the ice, and Penny flew down beside Ruby and grabbed onto her shoulder.

“We need to move,” she said. “There is something under the ice. It’s moving.”

“Do you think it could be—” The next _crack_ rattled Ruby’s bones. 

“Let’s get to the airship. We might need backup,” Penny said. “Come on—”

And a giant fin broke out of the ice shelf under Ruby’s feet, lifted into the air, and smashed the airship to pieces on its way back to earth. Ruby fell to the ground as the whole cliff shifted beneath her, holding onto Crescent Rose for dear life and staring out across the plains, which were shattering like glass before her very eyes, black fur rising through first the fishing holes and then the whole sea. Penny rose into the air, shouting something, but the sound of the world breaking apart drowned her out. 

Clinging to Crescent Rose, still embedded in the ice, Ruby felt the ground start to slide beneath her, and desperately looked around for some other purchase. Penny was still in the air, scanning the ground rapidly, whipping her head back and forth as though she had no clue what to do. Great fissures appeared in the ice around Ruby as she tilted further and further back, almost vertical now, and pieces of the shelf started falling off the back of what was clearly an enormous feathered serpent rising from the deep.

As Ruby's piece of the ice started to fall towards the freezing seas, Penny swooped down and picked her up under the arms with a mighty tug to dislodge the scythe. Ruby was treated to an awe-inspiring sight as they rose through the air above the ruined plains, the enormous Grimm's body rising up with its bony fins on either side smashing down any remaining ice in its wake. Ruby's shoulders started to ache, and Penny herself couldn't seem to keep them both in the air and matching the Grimm’s speed for too long, so just as the beast cleared the water she gently dropped them both down on its back, Ruby kneeling down on one of the three bone plates carefully, trying to keep her balance.

"Ruby? Ruby, are you all right?" Penny asked fervently, floating beside her. "It is enormous. I've tried to call for backup but I think its emergence has damaged the local scroll relays."

Ruby grunted and tried, at first, to get to her feet, but quickly fell back to her knees as the Grimm moved beneath her feet. She could feel the wind rushing past her face. They were rising higher still, and she had no ideas.

Until she saw a small hole in the Grimm's body, just ahead of the plate she was on, and one of the snakes from before jumped out of it and shook itself off. Penny fired a blast at it from one of her swords and disintegrated it, but it reminded Ruby of their anatomy.

"If this is just a big version of those, it probably has gasbags on its underside!" Ruby shouted over the wind. "Fly below it and try and take them out! I'll try and find a way to hurt it from up here!"

"You can barely move! I don't want to leave you! What if you fall?"

Ruby got to her feet again, trying to use Crescent Rose as a counterweight. She took a running leap towards the edge of the plate, stabbing the end of the scythe into a patch of fur to keep herself anchored. As soon as her blade hit flesh, the Grimm let out a roar and pitched first to one side, then the other. Ruby held on for dear life as Penny watched, fretting, and once the Grimm settled into a stable flight pattern Ruby threw a thumbs-up at her. Penny shook her head and flew over to her position.

"You'll never stay on that way. Hold on," she ordered, her swords springing from her back. She threw one into the flesh beside Ruby, then another on the opposite side, and with her remaining blades she cut the strings tying them to her body. She pushed forward and took one of Ruby's hands off Crescent Rose and wrapped it around the sword's hilt, and in that moment Ruby almost lost her grip, remembering the last time she'd held one of Penny's blades and faced down a seemingly unstoppable monster. Penny’s hand was firm over hers, though, and she held on tight, letting Penny guide her other hand to the second sword. Carefully, she used the two of them to stab her way up a few more feet, and Penny took the hint, retrieving Crescent Rose and folding it up, sticking it to the magnetic clamp on her back.

Penny flew up beside her one more time. “The trigger is on the underside of the hilts,” she said. “I’ll come back for you once I’ve disabled its flight.”

“Be careful, Penny,” Ruby said, wishing she could reach out and touch her. 

“I will.”

“...which way’s the head?”

Penny smiled and pointed. Ruby grit her teeth and gave her a nod. Penny streaked off in a green blur, and Ruby was left alone. _One stab at a time,_ she thought, lifting one sword and plunging it into the beast. As soon as she did, more snakes started to jump out of the hole she’d noticed before. By the time she realized they were looking at her, there were three, and their tube-like mouths were pointing straight at her and starting to glow with violet energy.

She let go of one sword and swung herself to the side to avoid the beams, then pulled that sword out of the main Grimm and clumsily waved it in an arc across the snakes, cleaving them apart with a wide green bream. Breathing hard, she pulled her knees up to her chest and stood with her knees bent, running to the hole and pointing both swords down it. She could see nothing but black down there, but took a deep breath and fired.

The reaction was immediate. There was a terrible howl from the front of the creature and it shook itself violently, forcing Ruby to burst into petals and stab herself into its skin again to hold herself steady. Hot black smoke poured from the nest into the orange northern sky, making Ruby pull herself up several feet in order to see clearly again. She glanced behind her, and saw that the beast’s tail, which had previously been waving up and down to propel it forward through the air, was starting to droop — and then, when she looked ahead, she saw dozens of small snakes emerging from the main Grimm and flying down to its underside.

“Penny,” she breathed. Penny could certainly handle a few of these, but this swarm? She had to help. She took a deep breath and steadied herself, looking for the next target: another nest, in the center of the next bone plate.

She moved in bursts, petalstorming forward and stabbing into skin whenever the wind of the Grimm’s movement threatened to scatter her to the air entirely. The run across the plate was the longest of all, and she only managed to hang on by sticking the swords into the hole itself. 

_I wish we’d had a better plan than this, I wish we’d had a better plan than this,_ Ruby chanted to herself, before pulling both triggers and squeezing her eyes closed. The smoke hit her full in the face, as did the disintegrating particles of a half-dozen snakes that had been swarming up the pipe towards her. She held her breath and dashed forward again, teetering back and forth across the surface of the creature’s back before landing on another fleshy area. She took a deep breath, looked forward, and prepared herself.

She dashed from nest to nest, feeling the creature’s forward movement begin to slow, their altitude start to dip, even as she wiped out more and more of the swarmers. The beast shook violently, trying its best to dislodge her, but it was clear it was growing weak and injured. When she finally reached the bony crest at the back of the beast’s head, she held onto its edge tight, and saw how far they had fallen — they were about to crash into the bottom of a mountain. 

With a gasp, she fell back a few feet and planted Penny’s swords in the Grimm’s neck, flattening herself behind the crest to take the impact. Snow and ice flew over her head as she held tight, and then the creature hit rock with a sickening _crack._ A large piece of bone struck Ruby in the back, but she held on tight until she felt the whole thing come to a stop, the only movement now the heaving breath of the Grimm lying beneath her. She pulled the swords out and got to her feet, looking over the head-crest to see how the Grimm had landed.

Most of its mouth had been torn off by the impact, but there was still a glow at the shattered end of the tube. With a roar, it fired a blast and scarred the mountain with a cone of violet light, lifting its head and flailing it back and forth as if to catch its assailants. Behind Ruby, smoke kept pouring from the nests she’d destroyed, and Penny flew up beside her.

“Are you all right?” Penny asked, setting down and grabbing Ruby by the shoulders. 

“I think so,” Ruby breathed. “Let’s finish this thing off. Together.”

“With pleasure.”

The two of them hopped over the crest and stepped directly onto the creature’s head. Its huge, wide-set eyes swiveled in their sockets and it tried to throw them off again, but it could only manage a feeble roll that barely upset Ruby’s footing. Ruby pointed to the eye on Penny’s side and she nodded. Together, the two of them drew their weapons, and with a “Now!” from Ruby, plunged them into the Grimm’s eyes.

The Grimm lifted its face to the sky, froze, and began dissolving beneath Ruby’s feet. Penny rocket-jumped straight at her and carried her off of the dying beast, gently setting her down on the ground as they turned to survey the damage.

“Where...are we?” Ruby asked, squinting across the landscape. The Grimm had left a long trail of destruction across the landscape, probably trying to hit Penny with its energy blasts, but Ruby couldn’t even begin to guess where they’d come from. Nothing looked familiar.

“By my estimation, based on the fuel reserves remaining in my boots...we flew almost fifteen miles north,” Penny said nervously. “I don’t have enough left to fly us home to Atlas.”

“And it’s getting dark,” Ruby realized. She drew out her scroll, checking her aura level. Not good. “I’m...Penny, I’m not sure…”

“It’s going to get very cold,” Penny said quietly. “I’m sure they’ll come looking for us, but…”

“I am _not_ freezing to death after taking down that huge thing!” Ruby moaned. She turned and looked at the mountain range they’d crashed into. “We need to take shelter. Or, I guess, I do. I’m sure you’re cold-weather equipped, huh.”

Penny nodded. “Of course I am. In case of emergencies like this.”

Ruby sighed and managed a smile. “You are so cool.”

There were no trees or sticks to be found on the mountainside — they must be too far north for such things to grow — but Ruby did spy a cave after a few moments of looking through Crescent Rose’s scope. With the last of Penny’s fuel, she carried Ruby to the entrance. It was a shallow retreat, but at least it was a little warmer near the back. Ruby shivered, curling up in her cloak and trying to stay positive, looking out at that bleak landscape under the shattered moon. Penny, at first, stood at the entrance, waiting to see an airship with her night vision so she could signal it. But when Ruby’s teeth started to chatter, she turned, and started to approach her.

“I...think I can help,” Penny said, kneeling down in front of her. “I can increase the run speed on my mechanisms to generate additional heat. If you hold onto me —” Penny coughed and looked away. “You should be able to survive the night. If it takes that long for them to find us.”

Ruby blushed. “Will that hurt you?”

“It might mean some additional internal wear and tear, but nothing serious. I...want to do it.” Penny bit her lip. “Is that okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah. It’s very okay,” Ruby said, opening her arms. Penny fell into them and wrapped her own around Ruby, and soon she could hear a low mechanical humming, and felt warmth spread from Penny’s body.

“Woah. You’re hot,” Ruby murmured.

“What?”

“I—I mean, you know, physically! Temperature-wise!” Ruby sputtered, backing off.

“Is it uncomfortable for you? I can try and fine-tune it,” Penny asked, cocking her head. 

“No, no, it’s okay, sorry. Just saying things,” Ruby murmured. “Maybe we should change position, though? I’d like to lie down.”

“Of course.” Penny lay on her side on the ground, and Ruby came in behind her, wrapping her arms around Penny’s waist. It was nice. Penny was _really_ warm, and her teeth stopped chattering quickly, feeling returning to Ruby’s fingers and toes. Ruby let out a sigh, and tried to ignore her growling stomach.

“I’m sorry, Ruby,” Penny said after a while.

“For what?”

“This is all my fault.” Penny’s voice strained. “I...I brought us out here alone, I--I parked the airship on top of that Grimm, just for silly reasons, things that don’t even matter, I—”

“None of it’s your fault!” Ruby objected, squeezing her tighter. “How could you know that a giant mythical Grimm was sitting under the ice?”

“I...suppose I couldn’t,” Penny admitted. “Do you know what it was?”

“I remember the story a little bit better now.” Ruby closed her eyes, remembering Dad’s voice soothing her and Yang to sleep when they were young. “It was about the first settlers of Solitas, and the Grimm Colossus, Phalanx, who patrolled the southern ice and guarded it relentlessly. A pair of mighty heroes took it on themselves to get rid of Phalanx, and they lured it far north, and tricked it into diving into the sea after one of them. The other used all the ice Dust in the kingdom, and froze both of them down there, locked in combat forever. Supposedly, the other hero went on to be the first king of Mantle, but he never forgot his partner beneath the ice, and died without ever marrying.”

“I wonder how much of that is true,” Penny murmured.

Ruby chuckled. “The way things have been going? All of it.” She nuzzled herself further into Penny, breathing in her strange, dusty scent. “I don’t blame you for not guessing all of that, though. And...I’m glad we came out here together, anyway.”

That strange ticking noise again. “Why?” Penny asked.

“I like spending time with you.”

Penny didn’t respond, but she did somehow heat up even more. 

* * *

Penny had closed her eyes, contented, for a long time before someone started speaking inside her head.

“Penny? Penny, are you there? Is Ruby with you? What happened?” Yang shouted, and Penny jumped to her feet, knocking Ruby against the cave wall. 

“Ah! I’m so sorry!” Penny said, looking back and forth between Ruby, who was mumbling incoherently, and the cave entrance, where she could just barely spot the running lights of an Atlas airship.

“Sorry for what? What the hell did you two fight out here? We found your ship in pieces like ten miles back!” Yang replied. “Is Ruby with you? Are you two all right?”

“We’re all right, Yang,” Penny managed as Ruby rubbed her eyes and looked up at her quizzically. She willed her...emotional responses to stay suppressed even though Ruby looked very cute. “We’re in a cave on the mountain — I can see you. I’m sure Ruby’s hungry, though.”

“Starving!” Ruby called, getting to her feet. “You guys brought something, right?”

Penny smiled and activated her audio output so Ruby could hear Yang’s response. “Uh, yeah, we got emergency ration bars on the ship. We were really worried about you guys. What did you take down?”

“Tell you about it when you pick us up. You’re not gonna believe it,” Ruby said, grinning. “Penny, give them a signal.”

Penny smiled and popped her swords out of her back, heading to the entrance to the cave. She sent out two of them and blasted green lasers from the ends into the night sky.

“Gotcha. We’re coming in now.”

Ruby walked up beside Penny and took her arm. She sighed and leaned into her, and Penny closed her eyes for a moment, taking in the moment, the increase in temperature. She liked it. She liked Ruby so much, it felt like it was making her malfunction. Was that really all it was? Just feelings?

The airship pulled up next to the cave and the side doors popped open, Ruby leaping into Yang’s arms as soon as she was visible. Blake smiled over Yang’s shoulder, her eyes meeting Penny’s, and it felt...Penny was getting the hang of body language, and it felt like understanding, and a little teasing. She smiled back.

“What were you _thinking?_ ” Weiss demanded as she stepped up beside Yang. “You and Penny should’ve brought one of us along! You could’ve been hurt.”

“Relax, we were fine,” Ruby said, looking over her shoulder and beckoning Penny to join them. 

“You ended up fifteen miles away from the mission site along a path of destruction and freezing to death!”

“Not freezing to death! Penny makes a really good space heater.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Weiss asked with a glare in Penny’s direction. Penny put a hand to her mouth.

“It meeeeans that she’s a really cool robot and could heat herself up to keep me warm!” Ruby said, separating from Yang only to hug Penny fiercely as the doors to the airship closed. 

“So what’d you fight, Ruby?” Yang asked, a glimmer in her eye as they all sat down in the back. “Must’ve been big.”

Ruby’s eyes sparkled. “Phalanx!”

“No way! The Colossus from Dad’s stories?”

“Yeah! That one! Check Penny’s memory if you don’t believe me.”

Ruby took Penny’s hand and smiled at her, and Penny started to realize that her nature was being talked up as a _good_ thing for once, instead of an object of suspicion or fear or being used as a tool to hurt people. Ruby liked her. All of her. She smiled bashfully and looked away.

“Ah, no, I believe you! What was it like? How’d you kill it?”

“It was this big flying snake thing, and it spat out little copies of itself, but Penny gave me two of her swords and I was climbing the top of it like a mountaineer while Penny flew around below it and blew up its gasbags..” 

Penny looked back at Ruby fondly, watching her excited gestures as she recalled the fight, the way they worked together. She caught Blake’s eye again, and squeezed Ruby’s hand in her own, and felt she was very much in the right place.

There was still something unsettling about the Ruby Factor. But for now, she resolved to enjoy it.

* * *

Ruby yawned as she walked the empty halls of Atlas Academy. She had to be beside Penny as her memory was probed and extracted in Pietro’s office, and it was exciting to watch the battle from her perspective play out on the screens, besides. But somehow, it had turned to morning, and everyone was at classes or at the briefing, except for Penny and herself, who had been ordered to take a day of rest after destroying a mythical monster, which she supposed was fair.

However, when she palmed the button to the door, she found that the dorm was not empty after all, and jumped a foot back when Blake said, “Hey.”

“Blake!” she exclaimed. “You’re supposed to be at the meeting.”

“I am, in a sense,” Blake said, shrugging her shoulders. “You wouldn’t believe the new Dust combo Weiss cooked up. My copy’s gonna be in there ‘till Yang actually wakes up, which gives me some time.”

“Oh. Well...what’s up?” Ruby said, rubbing the back of her neck although she had a very good feeling she knew exactly what was up. 

“Wanted to ask how your date with Penny went.”

“I—It wasn’t a date!” Ruby said, waving her arm dismissively even as her cheeks turned red ( _traitors_ ). 

“Really. Penny sneaking in here at the crack of dawn and bridal carrying you out to a remote location for the whole day doesn’t count as a date.” Blake raised an eyebrow.

“You know—”

“Relax, I’m just teasing,” Blake said, her ears twitching with her smirk as she approached Ruby. “But I can tell you like her. I think she likes you too,” she added, putting a hand on Ruby’s shoulder.

“I...yeah,” Ruby sighed, sinking down onto Weiss’ bunk. “Yeah, I think I like her too. I just...do you think it’s a good idea?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know. To...date a member of the Atlas military. It’s not like we’re really a hundred percent trusting right now,” Ruby said, looking down at her shoes. “What if we try dating — if she even really knows what that is, and we work out everything that would go into just, having a relationship...and then everything falls apart again? Like it did at Haven, and Beacon?”

“I…” Blake looked away. “I don’t know if I’m the one you should be asking for dating advice. Especially as it regards who's associated with what faction. I don’t have the best history. I just wanted to congratulate you. It’s nice to see.”

“Thanks, Blake.” Ruby looked up at her, and Blake knelt down to give her a hug. 

“And I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for that fight. We were all worried sick about you. Especially Weiss, don’t let her attitude fool you,” Blake added.

“Pssh, I know Weiss, I know what her concern sounds like,” Ruby said with a smile. 

“I guess you do.” Blake stood back up and stretched. “All right, guess I’ll go and actually finish that meeting. You get some rest, okay? Don’t pull a me.”

“I’ll try,” Ruby promised, getting up and climbing up to her bed. As Blake opened the door, Ruby leaned over the side and added, “Hey, Blake?”

“Yeah?”

“Just because you have bad history with dating doesn’t mean you should never try again. I know someone’s waiting for you,” she said, smiling at the corner of her mouth. “You just need to show them you’re ready.”

Blake’s cheeks went pink. “I—Uh—Don’t know what you’re talking about, Ruby, go to bed, you’re obviously delirious.”

Ruby chuckled. “Okay. ‘Night, Blake.” She turned over and nuzzled into her pillow, thinking about cuddling with Penny again.

“It’s morning.”

“Team leader order: no contradicting me,” Ruby murmured.

“Got it, boss.”

When Ruby fell asleep that time, she dreamed of Penny again. But they were together, and whole, and fighting side-by-side.


	2. Asynchrony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For prompt 2, Weapons Maintenance!

Ruby breathed a sigh of relief as she opened the door to the Atlas Academy forge, happy that no students were in that day. With Crescent Rose on her back and one of Penny’s blades in her hand, she’d somehow managed to fumble her way through a conversation with Pietro asking for a copy and sneak through the halls without getting teased by any teammates. Now she was free to do her favorite thing — work on Crescent Rose without distractions or worries. She couldn’t think of anything better to do with her mandated day off.

Just as she approached one of the many workbenches and laid down both weapons on it, someone grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Ruby!” Penny shouted, spinning Ruby around to face her, then giving one of her massive, bone-crushing hugs. 

Ruby could only manage a strangled “Hi” in response before Penny released her. 

“What are you doing, Ruby? I asked after you and my father said you would be here, but…” Penny peered around Ruby’s shoulder as she fruitlessly attempted to block her view. “Oh! You have a Floating Point?” Penny paused for a second, ticking twice. “None of mine are missing.”

Ruby coughed. “Uh...yeah. Yeah, I um, asked your dad for a spare.”

“What do you need that for?” Penny asked. 

Ruby sighed. So much for doing this stealthily. But, remembering her conversation with Blake, she decided to just go ahead and explain and hope for the best. It wasn’t creepy, right?

“I was thinking about our fight with Phalanx yesterday,” she admitted, turning to the bench and running her finger along the length of the sword. “As much as I love her, there’s times when Crescent Rose just...is too big and long to use effectively. So I was thinking about giving her a more compact melee fighting form...and giving her a compartment to store one of your swords.”

“Why my swords?” Penny asked. The lenses in her eyes widened a touch, and she started to hum, like she had in the cave. Ruby took that as a positive signal and pressed on.

“Well...I know we haven’t had time to talk about the fall of Beacon, much.” Ruby leaned against the bench, staring down at her feet. “When you died, this Nevermore burst into the arena, and I took up one of your swords to try and face it down. I didn’t need it in the end, but...after it was all over, I’d always wished I’d kept it. Jaune kept some of Pyrrha’s equipment and forged it into his own. I wanted that sort of tribute to you, too, but that night was so crazy.”

“But…” Penny’s shoulders slumped. “You don’t need to pay tribute to me. I’m not dead.”

“I—I know, but...it was still really awful to see you die like that, Penny. I keep having dreams about it, and being afraid it’ll happen again, and…” Ruby gulped. “And...I want some part of you with me, too, I guess. You’re important to me.”

“Oh.” Penny brushed her hair away from her face. “That’s...that’s very sweet of you, Ruby. I’m honored.”

“It’s a silly thing, really, but—”

“So show me how to use a forge!”

Ruby blinked. “Huh?”

“Yes! I didn’t forge Floating Array myself, of course. It was built into me when I was created. Your skill with weapon creation is well-known, and perhaps we could even make me something to use in case my own weaponry isn’t practical for a situation!” Penny beamed at her. “I’d love to spend the afternoon with you learning something new.”

Ruby’s eyes widened and she accidentally let out a squeal of excitement. “Yes! All right! Let’s do this! Watch and learn, my pupil!”

Penny started bouncing up and down on her feet as Ruby turned to the bench and cracked her knuckles. It had been years since she stepped into a forge on her own, but she was more than ready to tackle it — for Penny’s sake, if nothing else.

* * *

The clock in Penny’s head was telling her that it was late, that Ruby should sleep, that they could always do this tomorrow. That Ruby needed to regain her interrupted circadian rhythm and Penny ought to make sure Mantle was safe tonight.

The thrumming in her chest told her that sparring with Ruby, with the weapons they forged together, was the most important thing in the entire world.

Penny held two sharply angled blades in her hands, simple things with rounded handles. Directly above the handles there was a notch where they could fit together and form a scissor, something Penny had come up with, in case her strings became a liability. Ruby, circling her, held Crescent Rose's new compact form in one hand, a thick-hilted sickle shaped like one of Maria's kama, and a modified Floating Point in the other, its colors adjusted, Penny's symbol still glowing green in the hilt amongst a sea of black and red. 

“Ready?” Ruby asked.

“I do not know how to use these.”

“Me neither, but that’s not what I asked, is it?” Ruby said, cracking a smirk.

Penny smiled back. “I am _always_ combat ready.”

Ruby lunged at her, a clumsy, awkward attempt, stumbling as Penny stepped to the side. “Why does she feel so much heavier when she’s smaller,” Ruby grumbled, turning to face her again. 

“Weight distribution,” Penny replied, helpfully.

“En garde!” Ruby shouted, lunging at Penny again, and this time Penny smoothly redirected Crescent Rose towards the ground with one of her blades, blocking the Array sword with the other. Ruby grunted. “How are you so good at this already?” she asked, springing back and rushing in for another charge.

“I—” Penny blocked, blocked, blocked, spun, and hit Ruby in the middle of her back with a hilt, sending her stumbling forward. “Don’t know?” Penny said, shrugging as Ruby turned back to face her. “Is it not this easy for you?”

“I just...need to get used to it,” Ruby said, raising her weapons again. Penny easily blocked the next few strikes, and caught Crescent Rose under the blade, spinning it out of Ruby’s grasp and against a wall. Ruby threw up her hands. “Being adaptable is hard!” she cried, starting to turn for the fallen weapon before Penny stopped her by putting one of her blades across Ruby’s chest.

“Perhaps just try using one or the other first?” Penny suggested. “I can’t say why this feels simple, but...perhaps it is just one of my differences. You may need to work up to using an entirely different fighting style.”

Ruby sighed, stepping back towards the back of the arena and grasping her sword in both hands. “Okay, okay. But put one of yours down too.”

Penny nodded and set one of the swords down (she made a note to ask Ruby to help her with naming them later; they'd been too excited to sit around talking about it) and tried to ready herself, unsure of the right stance to start with. She knew that as soon as the fighting started, she could hold her own — she couldn't help but think of weapons as extensions of her body, while that appeared to be something Ruby had to learn. 

Just as Ruby opened her mouth, someone else spoke.

“What are you two _doing?_ ” Weiss demanded as she stepped into the training room, hands on her hips. 

“...practicing?” Ruby offered weakly.

“With that form? Those stances?” Weiss asked, stepping around to observe the two of them. Her eyes flitted briefly to Penny’s emblem on Ruby’s sword, and she scowled. “So that’s what you two were doing in the forge all day.”

“I — I just thought it’d be nice, practical, to have some more uses for Crescent Rose, and —”

Weiss sighed and drew her own weapon. “You don’t hold a sword like that.” She stepped up beside Ruby, and glanced towards Penny. “I’ll teach her proper technique. Stay and watch, you could learn something.”

“Oh!” Penny smiled. “I’d love to! I know what an accomplished fencer you are. We should’ve thought of you earlier, but we were both excited to try our new weapons!”

Weiss blinked. “Well...I’m here now, and I’m not going to let Ruby swing a delicate, precise weapon around like a club...or worse, like Jaune does.”

“What’s wrong with how Jaune handles his sword?” Ruby asked.

“Don’t get me started.” Weiss adjusted her feet and pointed her sword forward. “Just watch, and learn.”

Penny gathered up her swords and joined them together before placing them on her back, leaning on one of the dynamic barriers to watch Weiss’s teaching technique. Ruby’s face transformed into a mask of concentration, her eyes fixing wherever Weiss told her, biting down on her lip as she adjusted posture and form. Once Ruby had gotten the basics down, Weiss took up position across from her, and began drilling her with simple thrusts and parries, Penny watching all the while.

The clock in Penny’s head ticked, on and on, and despite how she knew the hour was growing late, she didn’t want to stop them. It was fascinating, and thrilling, to watch Ruby go from guesswork to confident learner, and the way Weiss looked at her was oddly gratifying too. Weiss rarely smiled, but as she stepped back from Ruby, watching the red of her aura dissolve into the air, she had a small, unconscious curve of her lips that Penny found intriguing.

“Not bad for your first day,” Weiss said, sheathing her sword. “It’s getting pretty late, though, and we don’t want to wait around for your aura to recharge. We could practice more tomorrow. If...if you want.”

“Of course I want!” Ruby cried, leaping up and hugging Weiss to sputtering objections. “You’re great, Weiss. Crescent Rose, hand-to-hand, and soon...fencing! I’ll be unstoppable, thanks to you!”

“You’re already pretty unstoppable,” Weiss said, smiling openly now. “But sure. Let’s get to bed. Blake and Yang are probably done asking each other stupid questions by now.”

“Wait!” Penny cried. “Ms. Schnee, would you mind a sparring match with me, as well? I’d like to try out what I learned from watching.”

Weiss jumped, head swiveling to Penny like she’d forgotten she was there at all. Her eyes narrowed, and Penny suddenly had the same sense she often did when she made a social misstep. But the words that came out of Weiss’s mouth were, “I suppose one more won’t hurt,” and this time, her smirk looked somehow...dangerous. Penny took it as a good sign, and took out her new swords again, separating one and heading into the center ring. Ruby stepped to the side, looking between the two of them with an uncertain expression.

“Is something wrong, Ruby?” Penny asked as she took up position, shifting into the stance Weiss had demonstrated.

“I usually know who I want to cheer for in these things,” Ruby said, pursing her lips. “Now I’m not sure.”

“Oh, I won’t need any encouragement,” Weiss said, drawing her weapon. “And Penny’s never lacking for spirit, right?”

Penny grinned. “Not at all. I’m looking forward to a friendly match!”

“You promise to give it your all?”

“I always do!”

“Then...begin!”

Weiss didn’t rush forward like Ruby. Instead, she waited for Penny to take the first strike, which was immediately deflected and gave Weiss an opening for a quick jab at Penny’s shoulder, green aura flaring with the contact. Penny managed to block the next few slashes that Weiss sent her way, and then went on the offensive again, swords clashing and feet shuffling back and forth across the arena. Sweat beaded on Weiss’s forehead, and her style became more aggressive, scoring more stabs and scratches until Penny’s aura was reading yellow in her mind. 

But Penny remembered something Weiss said earlier — an aggressive opponent was vulnerable, less prepared for the unexpected because their mind was solely focused on your body, not your sword. Penny tossed her sword from one hand to the other when she dodged the next stab, and thrust directly for Weiss’s core, the hit rebounding against her aura and sending her stumbling backward.

“Yeah, Penny!” Ruby cheered, her earlier indecision apparently forgotten, and Penny smiled at her fondly. Ruby always did prefer the competitor with a disadvantage. Weiss regained her footing, brow furrowed, and this time her lunge felt entirely off-form, easy enough to dodge and counter with a slam to the back, just as Penny had done to Ruby earlier. Weiss caught herself on the wall and ducked the next slash Penny sent her way, whirling around and catching her in the chest. Penny’s aura was in the red, and even though the screen at the back of the room displayed that, she was about to say so when Weiss darted forward again and aimed a wild slash her way. 

Penny caught it easily, but it didn’t slide off her blade the way the last few had. Their swords locked, Weiss met her eyes, and there was some anger, some _fury,_ that Penny had never seen before. Weiss pushed against her, but it was clear there wasn’t much left in her, either — and Penny knew she had the physical strength advantage. With a strong upward thrust, she sent Weiss’s weapon into the air, and before she could be proud of herself a black glyph formed beneath her feet and she found herself flying backwards into the opposite wall, aura dissipating the second she hit it and warning klaxons shouting in her core.

“Penny!” Ruby cried, rushing over to her. “Are you okay?”

Penny blinked a few times, a quick diagnostic running. “I am well, Ruby, but the match is over.”

“Weiss! No semblances!” Ruby hissed, turning around — but there was no one there. The clack of heeled footsteps retreated down the hall. Ruby’s face quickly shifted from anger to concern, and she turned back and put a hand on Penny’s shoulder. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, Ruby, I’ll be fine. I...don’t know what I did to make her angry,” Penny mumbled, looking down at her feet. “I feel like I never know.”

“I don’t think it’s you. Well, not anything you _did_ , anyway.” Ruby looked up again, shifting from foot to foot. “I’m gonna go find her and we’ll talk this out. I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Of course.” Penny rose to her feet. “I shall...review the instructions privately. I’ll wake you tomorrow morning, as usual?”

“Yeah.” Ruby stood and looked back and forth, biting her lip. “I think you did great,” she said, before running off after Weiss.

Penny closed her eyes and counted, one number at a time.

* * *

As Ruby ran out into the hall, she stopped for a moment, listening for Weiss’s footsteps again. It was a good thing she wore such ridiculous shoes. Once she discerned her direction, she growled and triggered her semblance, flying down the halls in a storm of rose petals until she rounded a corner and reformed directly in front of Weiss as she tried to take a seat at a library table.

“What was that?!” Ruby demanded, forcing Weiss to take a step back with a hand on her chest. “How come you’re so—” 

Ruby stopped herself dead when she saw the tears in Weiss’s eyes, the shame in her face as she looked away. “Weiss?” she asked, reaching out, but Weiss shied away from her touch and walked around her, taking a deep shuddering breath as she stared out of one of the library’s picture windows into the snowy, clear night.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, her shoulders slumping. “I’ll leave you alone.”

“Huh?” Ruby stepped up beside her, trying to catch her eye, but Weiss didn’t want to look at her at all. “I mean, I’m glad you apologized, but...what? I don’t want you to leave me alone.”

“What do you need me for when she’s so much better?”

“What are you talking about? Weiss, you’re my partner, and my best friend, she’s not _better—”_

“Then why have I barely seen you lately?” Weiss asked, straightening her spine and wiping her eyes. “I-if I’m your partner, why is she always the one you go with for missions? How come she’s the one you’re up forging new weapons with, staying up all night with?”

“Oh,” Ruby murmured, her cheeks flushing. “I—I’m sorry, Weiss. I didn’t know it...bothered you.”

Weiss turned from the window and slumped down into a chair, covering her eyes with one hand. “I’m sorry,” she repeated. “I just...miss you. When we were defending Haven, traveling to Atlas together, I got so used to being next to you all the time. But ever since we got here...It’s not like the Ace-Ops are bad, or anything. But you’re always going off on your own with one of them, or Penny, and sometimes I team up with Blake and Yang, but...you know what they’re like, these days. Hard to feel like part of a team when they keep looking right past you.” Weiss sighed as Ruby made her way over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “And then — first you use one of Penny’s weapons in your own, and then she beats me at my own style. It just makes me feel like I’m not needed anymore.”

“Of course I need you,” Ruby said softly, rubbing her hand idly along Weiss’s shoulder. “I’m sorry I’ve been...distracted. You know how easy I can get caught up in new things. But you know you’re always part of my team. I need RWBY, even if my sister’s being a dope right now.” Ruby smiled fondly down at Weiss, meeting her frightened eyes. “Me and Penny...it’s a new thing, and I like her a lot, and she’s really important to me, but that doesn’t mean you’re not still a big part of me.”

Weiss swallowed. “I still shouldn’t have lost control like that.”

“No, and I expect you to apologize to Penny tomorrow morning,” Ruby confirmed, flicking Weiss’s nose and smiling at her blush — the girl’s pale skin always betrayed her. “But...I’ll try to remember to keep you in the loop from now on. What if all three of us go out for a mission tomorrow? I know you two would work great together, just like I do with both of you.”

“I...could do that,” Weiss said. She stood, tucking a strand of white hair back from her face. “You’re always too nice to me, Ruby.”

“No such thing!” Ruby declared, giving her a quick hug. Weiss’s blush deepend, and she ran a hand down Ruby’s arm before interlocking their fingers. Ruby’s heart jumped, and she wondered, for a moment, if maybe…? 

Nah, that couldn’t be. Weiss was older, and smarter, and she wouldn’t. “Let’s get to bed,” Weiss suggested. “Gods know Penny won’t adjust our schedule just because we stayed up being stupid.”

“Training is never stupid,” Ruby objected, but she let Weiss lead her away anyway.


	3. Tachycardia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For prompt 3, "Flight!"

“Penny!” Weiss called as the airship’s engines started up, Ruby climbing aboard while Penny stopped in her tracks and checked behind her. 

“Yes, Weiss? We should hurry, as Harriet does not like to wait,” Penny said.

“I just...wanted to apologize for last night. It was uncalled for, and I know better than that,” Weiss admitted, wringing her hands. “I’m really glad you agreed to go on this mission with Ruby and I.”

“I forgive you, Weiss,” Penny said carefully, “And of course I’ll assist! I am well-suited to this mission, as are the both of you — Ruby mentioned something about you having a pet queen lancer?” Penny peered around her. “Where do you keep it?”

Weiss chuckled. “She’s not quite a pet, but she’ll be helpful. We really haven’t spent much time together, have we?”

“We have not! I am excited to learn more about your abilities. And, if you like…” Penny paused, thought, and decided to press on, “If you need someone to talk to, I am often your sister’s confidant.”

“Winter talks to you?” Weiss said, raising an eyebrow. “About...her emotions? Does she _have_ those?”

“Of course she does! Everyone does.” Penny looked down. “Sometimes I think she tells me these things only because she thinks I will not understand...but I do. I just disagree, sometimes.”

“Hey! Kids! Well, kid-and-robot!” Harriet called from inside the airship. “Let’s get a move on, we’ve got Grimm to kill.” Ruby waved at them from her seat, smiling, and Penny smiled back. 

“You heard the lady,” Weiss said. Penny beamed and hopped aboard the airship, sitting down beside Ruby with Weiss across from them. The doors on either side of the craft closed and they lifted into the air and flew out from the Academy’s hangar. 

“You taking down Phalanx really stirred up the northern Grimm,” Harriet noted as they flew over the icy tundra. “We thought we cleared out these manticores months ago, but the actual nest must’ve been somewhere down below, and Phalanx waking up opened it up.” She chuckled to herself. “Still wish I coulda been there for that fight. Bet Penny did most of it, huh?”

“Ruby contributed an equal amount!” Penny objected. “We attacked the beast from above and below. Ruby’s elimination of the nests on Phalanx’s back was vital to our success.”

“Woah, geez, didn’t mean to slam your girlfriend,” Harriet said with a laugh. Both Weiss and Ruby sucked in air through their teeth, while Penny looked back and forth between them.

“Did she say something wrong?” Penny whispered to Ruby, who turned red.

“No, I — she’s just teasing,” Ruby said, waving her off. “‘Cuz she’s a _jerk!_ ” Ruby added loudly. In response, the airship tilted significantly to the left.

“Oh no, distracted driver!” Harriet cried. “Snot-nosed kids are such a sky hazard!”

Ruby blew a raspberry, making both Weiss and Penny giggle. “Can’t believe I’m stuck babysitting three of you,” Harriet complained. “But, hey, at least I get to fly circles around that nest and watch you all flail at it.”

“I do not flail,” Penny said.

“Nah, you fly, which I’m still jealous of. I keep asking Pietro to make me rocket boots, but noooo,” Harriet replied. “All right, we’re getting close. Opening the doors now. Do your stuff.”

Ruby and Weiss unbuckled themselves as wind started to rush into the airship, taking up positions on either side. A glyph appeared on the floor, stretching across the whole of the ship, and Penny noted as she stood that it seemed to be keeping her balance even as the ship started to tilt, revealing a smoking hole in the ice below. A manticore circled lazily around the column of smoke before Ruby set up her weapon, hooked the blade around the underside of the ship, and fired a shot. 

The reaction was immediate; the manticore turned towards the nest and let out a roar, a half-dozen of its fellows rising into the air to join it. Penny took a running leap off of the airship and activated her rocket boots, giving a wave to Ruby before turning and unfolding Floating Array from her back. As she headed for the closest manticore, a bright, shimmering form appeared behind it and speared it right through, the silhouette of an icy queen lancer revealing itself as the Grimm dissolved.

Penny turned her head and saw that Weiss was crouched behind Ruby in the center of the airship, eyes closed. “Impressive semblance work!” Penny called over her radio.

“Less talking, more killing!” Weiss replied.

“She means thank you!” Ruby clarified. 

Penny turned and marked her targets, and for a while it was a blur. She weaved between manticores, blasting them with the Array, while Harriet started evasive maneuvers and gave Ruby clear shots at the ones that Penny or Weiss’ lancer weren’t engaging. It was as routine as such a thing could be for Penny, and she barely thought as she sent five of her swords into one wing of the manticore in front of her, five into the other, and pulled it apart into a puff of ash. But when she swiveled to check the rest of her airspace, she found it entirely clear.

“What’s that smoking down there?” Harriet asked as the airship drew to a stop mid-air. 

“It looks like the nests on Phalanx’s back after I blasted them,” Ruby noted. Penny peered down the hole, activating her heat vision in an attempt to get through the smoke. But even the smoke was hot, and it provided no answers.

“I can’t see through it,” Penny told them. 

“Just shoot at it and see what happens,” Harriet suggested.

“I’m glad the Ace-Ops have such tactical geniuses in their ranks,” Weiss said dryly.

“I don’t think—” Penny began, but then the heat readings started to spike. She weaved to the side just as a massive fireball rocketed out of the ice and slammed into the aft section of the gunship.

“Bail!” Harriet called. “Engines down, get moving, kids!”

The queen lancer and Penny rushed towards the falling ship, Weiss and Harriet hopping onto the back of the lancer and Penny holding her arms out for Ruby to jump into. Ruby shot out her Floating Point from Crescent Rose before folding the rest of it up, then jumped just as the airship tilted dangerously downward. Right as Penny caught her, the ice broke apart beneath them, and from the hole emerged an enormous armored manticore, its jaws spewing smoke between gaps in its teeth.

“Well, that explains that,” Harriet said as the lancer flew up beside Penny. It launched another fireball, dividing the two groups as they dodged it, then started barrelling towards them.

“Harriet!” Ruby called. “Let’s hit it with our semblances at the same time, both sides!”

“We’ll pop it like a grape,” Harriet growled, extending her exoskeleton over her arms and pounding her fists together. Penny and Weiss nodded at each other, and the two of them swerved to avoid the manticore’s charge. 

Penny smiled at Ruby before throwing her into the air towards the manticore, watching her burst into a column of petals and spear into it with her Floating Point, digging in the blade right next to the wing joint. Harriet’s hit sent the manticore rolling sideways, both Ruby and Harriet clinging on for dear life as it screamed in pain and landed on its back in the ice below. As it struggled to regain its balance, Harriet tore one wing off with her hands, while Ruby sliced off the other with a blast from her sword. 

“Penny, a little help?” Weiss called, and Penny looked back to discover her lancer was dissolving out from under her. Penny flew out and caught her just as the manticore managed to swat both Huntresses off of it, sending them skidding across the ice. 

“Are you ready?” Penny asked, looking into Weiss’ eyes.

“Ready for wha — _oh._ ” Weiss smirked and drew her sword. “Yes.”

“Go!” Penny cried, throwing her at top speed directly at the manticore’s back. It barely had time to look over its shoulder before Weiss’ blade pierced straight through its neck. With a flare, Weiss activated the fire dust within its chambers and the manticore dissolved from the inside out. Weiss hopped off the corpse and walked across the ice, offering Ruby a hand up just as Penny landed beside her to do the same. Ruby took one hand from Weiss and Penny and let them hoist her to her feet, smiling broadly at both of them.

“Oh, don’t worry about me, I’m fine,” Harriet grumbled, sitting up in the snow and blowing back her hair. Penny and Weiss looked at each other, and Weiss laughed guiltily.

“I thought you were the big, tough Ace-Op who doesn’t need help from any kids,” Weiss said, turning around and putting a hand on her hip.

“Okay, yeah, you got me, dug my own grave there.” Harriet stood up fully and stretched, then walked over to the hole where the manticore had been nesting. “Wonder how long that guy was down there. Glad we got rid of him now.”

“We kicked his _butt!_ ” Ruby said, punching the air. “Penny, you should throw people more often, it’s _so_ much fun.”

“It was pretty cool,” Weiss admitted, turning back to Penny with a smile. “Good thinking.”

“Best friend hug!” Ruby called, grabbing both of them and squeezing them tightly together. Penny’s core thrummed, and Weiss turned red, and it was wonderful.

“You guys are giving me sugar poisoning,” Harriet said, pulling her scroll from her pocket. “Can’t believe you managed to lose two airships in a week.”

“Excuse me, you were flying the thing!” Weiss objected, separating herself from the hug.

“Technicalities.” Harriet held the scroll up to her ear. “Hey, yeah, we could use a pickup. No — Look, Clover, not everybody has good luck all the time, okay? You shoulda seen the size of this manticore. Sucker must’ve been at least a hundred. Now I know you’re not doing anything important, come get us. Yeah, we’re fine, they’re just all huggy and touchy-feely and young and it’s torture.”

“Harriet!” Ruby grunted. Harriet just smirked at her.

“Okay. _Okay._ Hone in on my scroll. Bree out.” Harriet folded up her scroll and stretched. “Hey, wanna make him work for it?” she asked, cocking an eyebrow at Ruby. 

“What?”

“Race you back to Mantle. We’re only a few miles out. You can run a mile or two, right? It’ll keep the blood pumping.” Harriet tossed a glance towards Penny and Weiss. “Don’t worry, we’ll circle back for you,” she assured them.

“No way!” Weiss objected, looking towards Penny. “ _We_ can fly. We’ll beat you both there, easily.”

Penny checked her internal sensors and nodded, smiling. “I certainly have enough fuel...but this hardly seems fair. You’ll all be using your semblances. My boots are built in.”

“Ha! It’s training for us. We’d better put the work into our semblances if we wanna show we’re worth keeping around when they make more of you, right?” Harriet asked, cracking a smile.

“There’s only one Penny,” Ruby objected.

“Haven’t there been two already?” Harriet blew back her hair. 

“Not funny,” Weiss said, crossing her arms.

“Geez, so sensitive. Are we doing this or what?” Harriet shifting into a starting position on all fours. “Line here. ‘Till we hit the wall or Clover yells at us, either one.”

“All three of us will beat you,” Ruby declared, standing beside her. 

“Oh?” 

“You just watch,” Weiss challenged, kneeling down with her arms flared out, forming a glyph beneath her. The queen lancer rose and bore her up, the glyph still spinning up rapidly on the snow. Penny smiled and activated her boots, hovering at the end of the line.

“All right, let’s see what you’ve got,” Harriet challenged. “Three…” Her exoskeleton started to unfold on her back, forming across her arms. “Two…” Ruby and Weiss tensed in place. “One!”

Harriet rose for just a second, then slammed her fists into the ice. A shattering shockwave tore across the plain, sending Ruby stumbling to the side and breaking Weiss’ glyph while Penny rose above the point of impact, watching Harriet’s electric trail skate ahead towards the darkened walls of Mantle in the distance.

“Hey!” Ruby called once she recovered, before bursting into petals and surging after her. Weiss let out a growl and stabilized her hovering pattern before forming another glyph and spinning it quickly beneath her. Penny realized she was supposed to be racing, and quickly jetted off, glancing once more over her shoulder as Weiss let the glyph go and rocketed forward, the lancer’s flight leaving a bright trail of particles in her wake. Penny, to her shock, found herself in dead last.

That would not do.

She sprung Floating Array from her back and formed it into a circle behind her, activating the beams to increase her momentum. She and Weiss soon caught up to the front, Ruby’s red streak neck-and-neck with Harriet’s arcs.

“Foul play!” Weiss called down at Harriet.

“Whoever said Grimm play fair, princess?” Harriet shouted back. 

“Oh, well, if _that’s_ the case,” Weiss said, flipping her braid and throwing out a hand in Harriet’s direction. A massive glowing sword speared through the ground directly in front of Harriet’s path, forcing her to deactivate her semblance and take a running leap, smashing straight through it with an enhanced fist — and giving Ruby the lead. 

“Ha! That’s more like it, gimme a challenge!” Harriet cried, panting through the radio. “I’m gonna scatter you, Red!”

Penny was barely keeping up with what was supposed to be going on, but at least everyone seemed happy. She focused on Ruby, and knowing that she could push Floating Array’s output further if she used her aura to enhance it — she wasn’t sure, yet, if that ability counted as a semblance or not — she decided she wanted Ruby to win. Ruby deserved it. Clearly. She couldn’t actually find a reason Ruby deserved the win, but nonetheless, it was the only conclusion she could draw. Now the problem was making sure it happened, because Harriet was already catching back up.

Weiss called out Ruby’s name, interrupting Penny's train of thought as she looked down to check what Weiss was doing. A string of glyphs formed along the ground in Ruby's path, propelling her further forward. When Harriet made a move to use them for herself, one turned black and she stopped dead in her tracks before smashing a fist into the ground to dispel the trap.

"Clever!" Harriet called as she reactivated her semblance, "But you're supposed to be trying to win _yourself!"_

"Grimm don't play fair, right?" 

"Oh, I hate it when they think they're witty." Harriet's aura flared bright, and for a moment she was lightning, exploding dramatically beside Ruby's still-streaming petalstorm with her fist in the ground. Ruby was forced to reform, falling to the side as Harriet passed her by. 

"Ruby!" Penny gasped, swooping down to pick her up. But as soon as she scooped her into her arms, Ruby's silver eyes met Penny's lenses, and there was something wicked hiding in them.

"Hold on tight!" she said, and with a laugh, they dissolved.

Penny's monitoring systems blared in her mind, but she couldn't find her center, couldn't see, couldn't think. There was nothing but the rush of wind in her sensors.

And quite suddenly she was whole again, petals of green and red falling from her shoulders as she flew over Harriet's head, Floating Array and her boots screaming behind her. Penny blinked several times while Ruby giggled in her arms.

"Guess it works on anyone with an aura," Ruby said with a smile. "Weiss hates it."

"... I need time to form an opinion," Penny said. "You need to beat Harriet."

"I do, don't I?" Ruby checked over Penny's shoulder. "Let’s catch a ride."

Penny followed her gaze and just barely managed to see Weiss preparing another speed glyph, this time floating in midair, keeping pace with the lancer’s flight. How long had Penny been merged with Ruby? The Mantle wall loomed close, and as Penny regained her focus, she heard Clover over the radio asking them what the hell they were doing, then saw his airship coming in from the side. Harriet was almost to the wall.

"Hey, Harriet!" Ruby called down.

"What?"

"See you on Atlas!"

Weiss caught up to the two of them, and in a moment of inspiration, Penny flew through the speed glyph as it fully materialized in front of her, and the three of them flew up, and up, and straight past Clover's airship into the sky, and then directly into the Academy's hangar.

As they set down, Weiss visibly sweating and exhausted from all of her semblance work, Ruby let out a whoop of triumph and hugged Penny close. "That was So. Much. Fun!" she squealed, aggressively shaking Penny back and forth. 

"I can't believe you two petalstormed like that. The boost from your rockets made her even faster than I've ever seen her," Weiss said, wiping her forehead and approaching the two of them as Penny set Ruby down. "Usually people are just along for the ride."

"You are _so cool,"_ Ruby sighed, smiling broadly and staring at Penny. Penny's systems felt completely haywire, even more than just the usual Ruby Factor she'd accounted for. She felt — she wanted to do _something,_ but she wasn't sure what it was, and whatever it was, she wanted to do a lot of it.

"I — you are very...cool...as well," Penny managed, her core thrumming so loudly that it was surely audible across the whole hangar.

"Did we overwork you?" Ruby said, closing the gap between them and peering at her from various angles, as though she could determine the source of the malfunction when Penny herself couldn't. "I'm sorry! I was just, you know, excited —"

"Gross, Ruby!" Yang called as she stepped off a landing airship, and the three of them turned to watch her approach. "Didn't need to hear that from my baby sister!"

Ruby glared for a minute at Yang's self-satisfied grin as Penny tried to understand what Yang's meaning could be (Yang was always the most troublesome to understand of team RWBY) and Weiss scowled. Just as Yang opened her mouth again, Ruby enunciated a very clear "Blake."

"Wha — huh — is she here?" Yang stammered, checking over her shoulder before Ruby blew a raspberry and nudged her sister's shoulder.

"Yeah, I thought so," Ruby said, putting a hand on her hip. _"We_ just beat Harriet in a race."

"Yeah, I heard Clover whining about it over the comms," Yang said with a laugh, grabbing Ruby around the shoulder and mussing her hair. "Qrow was having a great time watching. Said he was proud of you guys for playing so dirty."

"She started it!" Weiss objected.

"Oh, I'm sure she did." Yang grinned. "Well, my job's already done for the day and I just got the paycheck. Let's get lunch on me as a congrats?"

"You're the best sister ever," Ruby exclaimed, hugging Yang. "Weiss, Penny, you coming?"

"Oh…" Penny's core temperature dropped. "I'm afraid I don't eat…"

"That doesn't mean you can't come and spend some time with us," Weiss said carefully, laying a hand on Penny's shoulder.

"Please? I'm sure Mantle can spare you for an hour," Ruby pleaded.

Penny relaxed and smiled. "I think I would like that."

"Can you swallow stuff?" Yang asked. "I wanna do experiments."

"Yang!" Ruby hissed, batting her sister on the shoulder as she laughed. Weiss walked side-by-side with Penny behind the sisters, and a strange sort of calm came over Penny, as though she had slotted perfectly into a space made for her.

After all this time, she finally had what she'd been looking for when she'd planned to desert Atlas during the Vytal Festival, and she hoped that this time, nothing would stand in her way.


	4. Fibrillation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For prompt 4, "Combat Ready!"

“Oh yeah, Blake’s coming to lunch too,” Yang told Ruby as they left the Academy building and stepped into the Atlas streets. “Technically we made plans before you guys showed up, but I’m sure she won’t mind an impromptu team hangout.”

Ruby frowned. “Are you serious?” she hissed under her breath, checking behind her to make sure Penny and Weiss weren’t listening — though they seemed to be involved in a discussion where Penny was prying at every aspect of Weiss’ semblance, so that was a blessing.

“Huh?”

“Did she ask you to come to lunch?”

“...yes?”

“So she asked you out.”

“To lunch, yeah.”

“She asked you _out._ ”

Yang paused. “Wait—”

“Too late now, I’m taking the free lunch,” Ruby said, giving Yang a friendly shoulder-shove. “You two are hopeless.”

“Ugh, I confide my super-secret feelings in you one time—”

“They’re not secret, Yang.”

“Shut up.” Yang’s cheeks were blazing red, and Ruby giggled to herself. It was nice, to see Yang like this. Sure, it was frustrating at times (more to Weiss than Ruby, honestly,) but the contrast between the angry, depressed Yang she’d seen when she left Patch, to the prickly and defensive one she’d known in Mistral and Argus, to this goofy, wisecracking, lovesick version of her older sister now was so welcome. 

“Shutting up now, ma’am,” Ruby said, mock-saluting. 

“Hey, now, none of that, you’re still team leader,” Yang admonished, “And it’s fine. We’ve got time, right?”

Ruby glanced over her shoulder, and caught Penny’s smile. “Yeah...I hope so,” she said softly. 

“Now who’s obvious.” Yang elbowed her. “Feels like you got the worst timing with this stuff.”

“Shh!” Ruby insisted. “We don’t talk about _either thing_ right now,” she added in a whisper, thankful that Penny and Weiss still seemed deep in their conversation. 

“Turnabout’s fair play.” Yang pointed to a small cafe further across the street.. “That’s the place she recommended. Says it has great tea and none of the staff stared at her ears.”

“They better not,” Ruby grumbled. That was one thing she still hated about Atlas — people being rude to Blake. It was, obviously, unacceptable, but also felt totally beyond her scope to do anything about, and when her goal was ‘saving the whole world’, that felt irritating.

As they entered the small space of the cafe, Yang spotted Blake at a corner round-table and waved. Blake raised her eyebrows as Yang slid in beside her.

“I see you managed to pick up our entire team plus one in the last thirty minutes,” Blake said dryly. “Hey, guys.”

They all offered their greetings and sat down while Yang rubbed the back of her neck. “Yeah, we just sorta ran into each other.”

“Oh, it’s no problem, I picked up a stray too,” Blake remarked. “She’s in the bathroom right now.”

Ruby heard a distinctive gasp and looked over to the small hallway across the cafe, where Nora stood, hands up over her mouth. “Penny!” she cried, racing over to the table and pushing Ruby aside with her butt to sit directly across from Penny. “I never get to see you when we’re not killing monsters!”

“I’m afraid we haven’t been properly introduced,” Penny admitted. 

“Nora Valkyrie, at your service!” Nora said, reaching across the table and putting her elbow on it, and, _oh no._ Ruby recognized that trick.

“Penny, wait—” she tried, but it was too late. Nora gripped Penny’s hand like a vice, and smiled wickedly. 

“Yang doesn’t let me wrestle _her_ robot arm without pulling some dumb trick,” Nora announced, throwing a side glance at Yang. “How ‘bout you, Penny?”

“What? Are we...fighting?” Penny asked, cocking her head. 

Ruby sighed. There was no way out of this now. She burst into petals to get around Nora and stood at the end of the table, gently guiding Penny’s arm into position. “This is something Nora does,” Ruby informed her. “Arm wrestling. On the count of three, you try to pin her arm to the table.”

“Kick her butt, Penny!” Yang whooped as Penny’s eyebrows narrowed in concentration. 

“Why?” Penny asked, glancing at Ruby.

“Nora works in mysterious ways,” Ruby said with an apologetic shrug. “It means she likes you, I think.”

Nora cackled happily. “That’s me, the enigma!”

Weiss groaned. “We haven’t even ordered our food yet…”

“I’m usually the ref,” Ruby added, looking at Penny again. “I’ll start the count. Remember, _Nora,_ no cheating! No semblances, no using another arm, no flipping the table.”

“I’m combat ready, Nora Valkyrie!” Penny said. “May the best woman win!”

“She will!” Nora shouted back, grinning.

Ruby started the count. “Three...two...one!”

Nora strained visibly with effort, grunting loudly, while Penny’s eyes narrowed silently. Ruby could just barely hear the sound of her servos squealing under Nora’s immense strength. Ruby watched vigilantly, peeking under the table to make sure Nora wasn’t about to wreck the cafe, but luckily it seemed that this time she was really intent on doing this the right way. Even Weiss watched intently, despite her usual protestations that this was a waste of everyone’s time; Ruby knew she, like everyone on the Beacon teams, did love watching Nora in action.

“You’re not gonna pop off that arm, are ya?” Nora asked through grit teeth.

“Why would I do that?” Penny asked. “That wouldn’t be fair.”

“We stopped being fair a long time ago, Nora, you gotta let that go,” Yang said, laughing. 

Nora took in a deep breath, and Penny’s arm just barely started to fall towards the table — but an instant later, Nora’s arm made contact with the table with a _crack,_ a tiny fissure appearing in the wood. Nora laughed.

“You had me the whole time,” she accused.

“I just wanted you to think you were doing well!” Penny said, a smile growing on her face. She cast a glance at Ruby, but before Ruby could think of what to say, Nora was already up and in her face.

“Ruuuuby,” she pleaded, “Can I use my taser this time? Can I?” She pulled the object in question out of her coat, prompting most of the table to scoot back.

“Why do you have a taser at the lunch table?” Weiss asked.

“Why don’t you?”

“Well, since she _does_ have an advantage—” Ruby began.

“We _aren’t_ breaking the table the first time I bring everyone to the only decent place in town,” Blake said, holding up a hand. “You guys gotta do your rematch somewhere else.”

“ _Fiiine,”_ Nora sighed dramatically, flumping back down in her seat. “You don’t have a team, right, Penny?”

"Not officially," Penny confirmed. "My team from the Vytal festival…they were reassigned when they made it home, and we weren't really friends, anyway."

"Stupid Atlas hunters," Nora grumbled. "Soooo you're saying you're free? Single?"

"I think Penny's taken already," Yang said with a snicker, prompting Ruby to throw a straw at her face.

"I... don't know that General Ironwood would allow me to officially join any team," Penny said cautiously.

"But think about it!" Nora insisted. "You could join up with us and we'd be team JNPR again!"

There was a collective sharp inhale around the table, and Ruby felt a sting in her chest, the image of Pyrrha's body dissolving into ash flashing behind her eyes. 

"I'm flattered," Penny said, "But if I were to be on a team... I'd like it to be with Ruby and Weiss."

"So what are we, ursa crap?" Yang objected, putting an arm around Blake's shoulders. Ruby felt her cheeks warming and glanced at Weiss, who was peering curiously at Penny.

"I-I didn't intend to offend!" Penny squeaked.

"Relax, she's just messing with you," Nora said, waving her off. "I guess bringing it up to Jaune might not be the best idea, anyway."

"What's this? Nora giving up on an idea because it lacks tact?" Weiss asked with a soft smile. "Is the sky falling? Can boarbatusks fly?"

"I know! I'm so mature these days." Nora leaned back in her seat and sighed. "Too bad _someone_ can't see it…"

"Ah, so that's why you latched onto Blake," Yang mused. "Ren being weird again?"

"I don't know what to do," Nora mumbled. "I thought things were...you know... _progressing_ since Mistral, but…"

"Hey, let's get you some food and then you can gripe about your boy problems," Yang suggested, waving her hand in the air and beckoning over a waitress. She paused when she got to their table, looking them over.

"Oh my gosh, are you all huntresses?" she asked.

"Yup! Every one of us! Except —" Ruby began.

"Oh, I recognize the protector of Mantle," the waitress said with a smile. "You saved my sister's life a few weeks back, you know."

"I am always glad to be of service," Penny said.

"So, what'll it be? I assume you're going to empty all our stock…"

"We'll eat you out of house and home," Nora promised with a grin.

* * *

Penny lagged behind as the party left the cafe, taking a few moments to think. It had been nice, so nice, to spend so much time with the Beacon students, but what she wanted right now was time with Ruby, alone. She felt she'd revealed something she wasn't supposed to when Nora asked her about teams, but she couldn't figure out what. After all, everyone knew she and Ruby were friends, right?

"Hey, Penny," Ruby said, making her jump. "You doing all right?"

"I am well, Ruby," Penny answered automatically.

"You sure? You seem a little...distracted. I know Nora means well, but bringing up Pyrrha like that…"

"It's not that," Penny said. "It's simply... you are all so different from the Atlas personnel. You treat me like an equal, like...like I belong with you."

"Of course you do, Penny."

"But we weren't even supposed to meet," Penny pointed out. "I — I shouldn't even be here right now."

"You're your own person," Ruby said firmly, taking hold of Penny's shoulders. "You can do whatever you choose to do, with whoever you want! We have time right now, Penny. And... I've learned to really appreciate that, when we have time with the people we care about. For a long while...you were gone. Pyrrha's gone. I didn't see Weiss or Yang or Blake for months, and when we did meet again, we were thrown into life-or-death battle and running again." Ruby sighed. "Sure, this is just a calm before a storm, but...I wanna enjoy it, while it lasts. You know?"

"I... think I do," Penny said. Her and Ruby's eyes met, and Ruby's hand idly stroked down Penny's arm. Her core felt warm, full.

"We're combat-ready, but we don't have to be getting ready for combat all the time, right?" Ruby suggested.

"I really like you, Ruby Rose," Penny said firmly, and her temperature rose further when she saw the blush on Ruby's cheeks. 

"I like you too," Ruby said softly. Her hands drifted down and caught Penny's, and for a moment, Penny forgot all about the other Beacon students, and all her attention felt laser-focused on Ruby, and she wished she knew what this feeling was and how to express it because it felt ready to burst out of her.

"Ruby!" Weiss called. "Are we fencing today, or what?"

Penny blinked a few times and looked about. The rest of the group was far in the distance, Weiss standing with a hand on her hip a few feet away. 

"S-sorry!" Ruby said, breaking off from Penny. "Um, yeah, we can practice. Penny, do you wanna come too?"

"I'd like to spar more. Maybe Weiss could help me practice with the scissor form on summoned Grimm?"

Weiss raised her eyebrows. "You'd...let me do that, after last night?"

"Of course! You apologized, and have been a good friend to me since." Penny smiled at her. "And I wouldn't want to come between you and Ruby again."

"I…" Weiss's cheeks turned pink. "That's...very sweet of you, Penny. Now, um...c'mon, it's time for me to teach this dolt how to use her feet for more than clomping around."

"I'm still not wearing heels ever again," Ruby said as she jogged to catch up with Weiss, heading back towards the academy.

"After seeing you at the Beacon dance? I gave up on that entirely."

Penny followed behind them, watching the way they fall into their light, teasing banter, and felt like she belonged.


	5. Murmurs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For prompt #6, "Angst"!

As Ruby and Weiss left Pietro’s office, Ruby took in a sharp breath, her knees feeling weak beneath her. “Woah, hey,” Weiss said immediately, taking Ruby’s shoulders in her hands. “Are you all right?”

“I—I’m fine,” Ruby said, taking in a gulp of air. “Come on, we’re on patrol tonight.”

“Nora and Ren can handle that for a couple more minutes,” Weiss insisted, not letting Ruby go. “You’ve been running around crazy since election night. All of us have, but you the most. You keep asking how everyone else is doing, so now I’m asking you.”

Ruby chuckled. “Can’t get anything past you, huh?”

“We’re partners,” Weiss said softly, one hand traveling down Ruby’s arm. “And I haven’t seen you like this since Mercury framed Yang.”

“That’s just it,” Ruby admitted, slumping. “It’s all happening again. I can’t...Weiss…” 

Weiss wrapped her in a hug, and Ruby relaxed into it, breathing out gratefully. “You’re getting better at this,” she mumbled into Weiss’ shoulder.

“I’ve been trying,” Weiss said softly, a hand stroking up and down Ruby’s back. Ruby sniffed and pulled back, swallowing before she spoke again.

“Just let me warn them really quick, okay? We can talk in the dorm,” she offered, pulling her scroll from her pocket.

“Yeah, of course.”

Weiss led the way towards the dorms as Ruby texted Nora.

**Ruby:**

_Hey, Me and Weiss are gonna be late to patrol, can you cover?_

**Nora:**

_everything all right up there?_

**Ruby:**

_Just need a little bit of rest. We’ll be down in an hour at most._

**Nora:**

_oh no i have to hang out with my recently-acquired boyfriend all by myself!!!!_

_whatever will i do????_

_dont sweat it rubes! well be fine!_

_give penny a hug for me!!!_

**Ruby:**

_You’re the best, Nora._

**Nora:** **  
**_i know!_

Ruby smiled at her scroll and put it away while Weiss palmed the door. Thankfully, they were the only ones still in Atlas — Blake and Yang had been called in to help the Ace-Ops apprehend Robin, which still didn’t sit well with Ruby at all. As they walked in, Weiss made a beeline for the coffeemaker in the corner. Ruby smiled to herself. It still felt special, after all this time, that this was the ritual that Weiss had whenever she felt she needed to help Ruby.

They let the world breathe between them for a while as Weiss made her coffee, Ruby taking a seat on Weiss’ bed and closing her eyes, leaning into the wall. She thought about what to say to Weiss whenever they started really talking again, but it all blended into mush in her head. She felt fear creeping into her body, shakes in her hands, and was utterly grateful for the mug Weiss handed her. 

She couldn’t be this way. Not when her team — the world — needed her. She would do what she always did, press on, keep fighting. That was all there was to it.

“Thanks, Weiss,” she managed, taking a sip. “We can drink on the way to the hangar, let’s—”

“We were _going_ to talk,” Weiss interrupted, narrowing her eyes. “You don’t get to pull the unflappable leader thing. Not with me.”

“I — Weiss—”

“Take another drink and try again,” Weiss ordered, raising one eyebrow. 

Ruby sighed. “You’re getting better at this.”

“I know.” 

She took another sip and closed her eyes, breathing out. “It’s Penny,” she said softly, her throat tightening. “What Pietro told us...I’ve always been worried, you know. In the back of my head. That we’d lose her again. I told myself that even if we did, we’d rebuild her again, and…” Ruby swallowed. “I can’t. Not again.”

“...I know what you mean,” Weiss admitted. “Every time we fight together, I think about what happened to her. At first, I was joining in with your missions to spend time with you, but then I started to get worried that something would happen and I wouldn’t be there. For either of you. Like at Beacon.” Weiss bit her lip. 

“What do you mean?” Ruby asked, looking over at her, but Weiss averted her eyes.

“When I sent you up the tower. That flash, your silver eyes...I didn’t know what it was, when it happened. It looked like the whole top exploded, with you up there. And I just...ran. I didn’t even know you were alive until Qrow showed up with you in his arms at the landing pad.” Weiss let out a shuddering breath. “I was scared that when you woke up, you’d blame me for whatever happened to you.”

“Weiss, I’d _never—_ ”

“I know that now,” Weiss interrupted. “But when my father came to get me...I felt like such a failure. That’s why I went with him. I thought about staying with you — Yang even said she wanted me to — but whenever I looked at you, it felt like I’d proved him right all along.”

“Oh,” Ruby breathed. “Weiss…”

“So I know, I mean. How it feels like you might lose someone you care about for a second time, and this time it’ll be for good.” Weiss shrank into herself. “I’ve...been dealing with it by trying to, to stay close to you. When we met again in Mistral, I was so worried that you’d prove my fears right, but you opened your arms to me without even thinking about it. I really...it mattered to me. A lot. You matter to me a lot. Both of you.”

Weiss looked up and laid a hand gently on Ruby’s thigh, and it was warm and a little shocking at the same time. “But this won’t be another Beacon. I know it won’t.”

“How?” Ruby asked. “I thought it was my job to be certain, but now—”

“Because of everything we’ve been through since then. Because we fought them back at Haven, too. Because we’re not going to let anything separate us from each other, not anymore.” Weiss smiled softly and shifted closer to Ruby, and Ruby felt something reignite in her that she hadn’t felt since she was at Beacon, a burning in her stomach as she looked into Weiss’s eyes. “Penny won’t die because we won’t let her. We’ll stand against anyone who tries. And we’ve all seen what the price of trying to go it alone is, and we’ll never do that again. Right?”

“Yeah,” Ruby managed, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. “You’re right.”

“As long as we’re together, we can do this.” Weiss leaned against her. “I believe that. I hope you do, too, because you’re the one who made me believe.”

Ruby had no idea how to respond to that. She felt too warm and weird and she was sure she’d say something stupid, so she did the only thing she could think of, and drained the entire rest of her coffee cup.

Naturally, she choked on it.

“Ruby!” Weiss laughed as Ruby started coughing and hacking. Weiss took the cup out of her hands and set it on the floor, giggling as Ruby fought to get herself under control again. Finally, she swallowed, and held in her breath, her face burning. Weiss cupped her chin and turned Ruby to face her.

“Are you okay now?” Weiss asked softly.

“Mhm,” Ruby squeaked.

“Good.”

And Weiss kissed her.

Ruby’s heart exploded in her chest. She pulled Weiss closer instinctively, circling her arms around her and closing her eyes. Gods, she’d never done this before, and she hadn’t expected this at all, she’d given up on the idea years ago, and yet here she was.

When they pulled apart, Ruby was flushed and panting. Weiss tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and bit her lip, bowing her head slightly. 

“Was that...okay?” she asked, her cheeks flushed bright red. 

“Y-yeah,” Ruby mumbled, still trying to process. _Wow._ And then her brain kicked on again with a start, and she remembered that she’d told Blake not too long ago that she wanted to date Penny, but Weiss was _here_ and wouldn’t it be so much simpler this way, and she really did like her, she thought she had gotten over the crush in school but now it was back with a vengeance and—

“...what about Penny?” Weiss asked.

“What, uhm, what do you mean?” Ruby asked, frantically trying to work out, indeed, what to do about Penny.

“I thought...I’m sorry. It was just, in the moment, I really wanted — but I thought you were…” Weiss retracted her hands, wringing them in her lap. “I’m sorry.”

“No, no, don’t be!” Ruby cried, putting her hands over Weiss’. “I...I thought we’d have more time,” she admitted. “For a little bit, I was really, you know, thinking about it, but then you started joining us for missions and I forgot about it. I mean, not _forgot_ , but you know, I was just having a really good time with both of you, I didn’t want to upset the balance or anything, and I don’t even know if Penny feels that way about me, but I think she might, but I don’t know if _she_ knows that, and…” Ruby sighed. “I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

“You are,” Weiss said, looking up at her again with a shaky smile. “It’s one of the things I like about you.”

Ruby chuckled, and felt tears sting at her eyes. “What do we even do now?” she asked, wiping at her face. “I...I didn’t think you felt this way. When we were in school, I...thought about it. You. A lot. I told Yang, and it was a good talk, but she...let me down easy. She said the age gap was too much, and you probably didn’t see me as an...option. And that was back when things were still sort of tense between us, you know?”

“Really?” Weiss asked. “I, um. Wow. I’m clueless. But...I mean, she wasn’t wrong. Back then, I mean.” She swallowed. “It...changed. When I saw you again. It felt so sudden, but…”

“Oh.” Ruby leaned her head on Weiss’ shoulder. “I guess I’m kinda dense.”

“Or I’m really bad at flirting?”

“Could be both.” Ruby rubbed her thumb along the back of Weiss’ hand, thinking. She needed to be honest here, with Weiss and herself. “The truth is...I don’t want what us and Penny have to...change. I don’t want to feel like I’m giving you more time than her, or...anything like that. I really liked what we had going before all this.”

“...I did too,” Weiss admitted. “I see why you like her. She’s a lot like you, actually.”

“...when we first met her, it felt like none of you liked her,” Ruby said softly. “Because she was different. I know we’re a lot alike. That’s why I wanted to be her friend, and why it...kind of hurt, when you all acted like she was weird and we should stay away from her.”

“I’m sorry.” Weiss hung her head. “We were all dumb kids then, you know?”

“If I hadn’t grown up with Yang, I’d probably be a lot more like her.” Ruby felt a tightness in her chest. “There wouldn’t be anything wrong with that, right?”

“No. Of course not. And I don’t feel that way about her anymore, now that we’ve spent a lot of time together.” Weiss coughed. “Actually...before election night, I’d been thinking, if...it was a big long shot, but I…”

“What?” Ruby asked. 

Weiss stammered and struggled for words, her cheeks turning red. “I was thinking that if you wanted to, or just, um, started dating her, that I might...also...be there?”

Ruby’s eyes widened. “Uhm—”

“If, um, you know.” Weiss stared down at her lap, her posture withdrawn. “I’m sorry, I know that’s...pathetic, I—”

“It’s not, it’s not!” Ruby insisted, mind running circles. “You would really...be okay with that?”

“I...it was sort of a just-in-case thing, but it also was...something I thought about as more than that, sometimes, I don’t know…” Weiss shifted uncomfortably. “I do like her.”

“You wouldn’t be second to her,” Ruby said carefully. “L-like I told you, in the library. You’re both really important to me. And...it’s not like I can just pretend this didn’t happen. I don’t want to.”

“Do you think she would…” Weiss still couldn’t seem to look at Ruby, though Ruby could see a hint of a smile on her face. “I’m...Ruby...I really don’t want to get in anyone’s way.”

“You’re not,” Ruby promised. “Besides, it’s Penny. If she’s interested in me, she’ll think it’s a great, obvious solution, why didn’t we do it earlier?”

Weiss chuckled. “Yeah. That’s one of the things I like about her. She’s so...you know, when you spend your whole life following every proper social procedure, every rule of etiquette...people who don’t care about that at all are kind of amazing to you. Admirable, you know? Once you get over your own stupid snottiness, I mean.” Weiss grabbed her braid and tangled her fingers in it nervously. 

“I don’t _know…_ ” Ruby said, smiling. “But it’s nice to hear.” She took hold of Weiss’ chin, lifting it up to face her. Her eyes were such a gorgeous blue. And now that Ruby had kissed Weiss once, she found it very hard to resist doing so again, and so she did.

Weiss relaxed into her arms, and Ruby held her happily, feeling a weight lift off her chest. It felt so good to have her here, and to know that Weiss believed they could all pull through this. RWBY, Penny, JNOR…they all could make it through this, if Weiss believed it. When she was usually such a cynic, having her support meant the world.

“Thank you,” Ruby whispered into Weiss’ shoulder. “For making me talk.”

“Thanks for talking.” Weiss laid a lazy kiss on Ruby’s neck. “I really needed this too.”

Ruby pulled back, smiling faintly. “I think I’m ready to go on that patrol. You think Nora and Ren are done making out?”

“I don’t trust that they’re as solid as Nora thinks,” Weiss said with a forlorn sigh, “But yeah. Let’s get out into the crappy cold air.”

“That’s the spirit, Weiss.”

“We’ll talk to Penny when she’s back online?”

“Yeah. I think...I think we can make this work.”

“If anyone can, it’s you,” Weiss said as they stood, holding hands. “You’ve managed to keep us all together so far. I don’t see why that should stop now.”

“Yeah. I guess it shouldn’t.”

As Ruby went back to her duties, her heart and her load lightened, she found she was once again looking forward to the future.


	6. Resynchronization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For prompt 7, "Family"!

Normally, Ruby wouldn’t think twice about staying to watch Weiss and Blake’s sparring session. It was always fun to watch the two of them bounce off each other. But throughout the day, she’d been glancing at her scroll, checking the time, and she knew she only had a few more precious minutes. Training for the day was winding down, and the dinner at the Schnee estate fast approaching. 

Yang, standing beside her in the training room with her eyes focused only on Blake, didn’t seem to notice Ruby’s visible agitation. Ruby tugged on her sleeve.

“Huh?” Yang asked, not looking away as the two fighters assumed their stances, Winter at the back setting the controls to create a dueling circling for them. 

“Can we...talk? Alone?” Ruby asked, tugging more insistently now to force Yang to look at her.

“Something up?” Yang asked, raising her eyebrows. “I mean, aside from, you know, the situation.”

“Yeah,” Ruby confirmed. “Something’s up, and I wanna talk to you about it. We haven’t had too much time to talk, just us, in a while, you know?”

“Oh, wow, you’re really serious, okay. Uh, dorm?” Yang suggested, turning from the upcoming battle and falling in beside Ruby as she headed out.

“Yeah.” Ruby breathed out a sigh as they entered the hallway, running a hand through her hair. “Sorry if this is freaking you out, I promise it’s pretty mild. Just private.”

Yang raised an eyebrow. “Being taken away for a ‘mild’ chat. Yeah, ‘cuz you’re not known for understatement.”

“It is mild!” Ruby insisted. “Really.”

“If you’re just grabbing me to tell me you’ve got a crush on Penny, I’ve got news, that’s not private,” Yang said with a grin.

“More than that! Besides, I got Blake’s advice on that earlier anyway, it’s just...can you be quiet until we’re in our room?” Ruby asked as they passed by an Atlas student, who gave them a funny look as they went.

“Okay, okay, gotcha, fully classified,” Yang said, miming zipping her lips closed. 

Thankfully, Yang abided by her word until they got into the dorm, Ruby hopping up onto her bunk and dangling her legs down while Yang took a seat at the table across the little room from her. “So…?” she asked. “You’re like, getting super red. What’s up?”

Ruby took a deep breath. “Weiss and I are together now.”

“Woah!” Yang said, her eyes popping open. “What? When did this happen? She — I didn’t think she was — nice!” She hopped up from her seat and offered a high-five to Ruby, who laughed softly and matched it. “Congrats, sis! I thought you got over her, though?”

“Yeah, me too,” Ruby admitted. “I mean, you were right, when we talked about it last time. But things are different now. She kissed me first.”

“Oh I am gonna make Weiss’ life hell for that,” Yang said with a grin. “I’m gonna remind her that she made you explode once every day now.”

Ruby chuckled again, meeting her sister’s eyes for the first time, and felt a surge of gratitude that they’d managed to stay together all the way to Atlas. She was such a good sister. Ruby felt a little bad making it more complicated.

“Yeah, it’s — it was just last night, so I haven’t been like, hiding it from you or anything, swear, it’s just, uh.” Ruby swallowed. “About Penny.”

“So Blake’s advice wasn’t ‘don’t do it?’” Yang asked, looking a little eager. “...what’s the problem?”

“Well, Weiss and I were spending a lot of time with her...before Ironwood locked her down, anyway,” Ruby said with a scowl. “And before election night...and before Weiss kissed me...I was planning on asking her out.”

“Do you think she’d get what that means?” Yang mused. “Like, what examples of romance has she gotten to see in her life, you know?”

“Besides you and Blake at the Beacon dance?”

“Does not count.”

“I agree,” Ruby shot back with a smile. “But...I don’t know. I wanted to try. And Weiss...well, when we got together, we talked about it. And we’re thinking, once the dinner’s over and we have a chance to talk with her, we…well...”

Yang’s eyes sparkled. “That would be so cute!” she exclaimed, grabbing Ruby’s hands and pulling her straight off the bunk and into her arms, squeezing her tight, She mussed her hair as she set down a stammering, red-faced Ruby.

“You...you think it’s a good idea?” Ruby asked. “‘Cuz both of us are kinda like, it’s a crazy thought, but…”

“Hey, if you’re all into it, I don’t see why you shouldn’t.” Yang put her hands on Ruby’s shoulders. “Things aren’t gonna slow down and give us a break again anytime soon. Ruby, you’ve always been the one to take the big steps and make the crazy plans. No reason for you to stop now!”

“You’re the best, Yang,” Ruby said with a sigh, embracing her sister a little less intensely. “Thanks.”

“And you know if anyone tries to mess with Penny over this BS framejob, I’ll be there to bust ‘em up,” Yang added, stepping back and pumping her fists, making Ember Celica extend on one arm and a gun pop out of the other. She mimed throwing punches.

“Nobody’s touching the off-switch on my sister’s girlfriend. Unless Penny’s into that, I guess.”

“Yang!” Ruby objected, punching Yang in the stomach.

“Friendly fire!” Yang called out, falling back against the table and clutching her core, one hand pressed dramatically to her forehead. “Betrayed by my own baby sister!”

“I’m not your baby sister! We’ve been over this! You’re only two years older than me!” Ruby insisted, folding her arms across her chest.

“I don’t think that argument’s been settled yet,” Yang said with a smirk, standing up and pounding one fist into an open hand. “I think we gotta negotiate this...in the ring!”

“Should’ve done that earlier, then,” Blake said as the door opened and she stepped into the room, smiling faintly at the two of them. “We got an hour ‘till dinner. Weiss sent me to tell you two to get ready — she’s fixing her makeup.”

“Am I not good like this?” Yang asked, sweeping her hand down her body. Ruby elbowed her and muttered “Knock it off,” while Blake tried and failed to avoid following the gesture with her eyes.

“At least zip up your leg?” Blake suggested. “Come on, seriously, let’s go support Weiss in her hour of need.” 

“All right,” Yang said with a stretch. “Ruby, you coming?” 

“Yeah.” As Ruby followed them out of the room, she sighed. Despite how tense this dinner was probably going to be, at least she could be by Weiss’ side, and with the people she cared about, and there was something to look forward to in all the coming mess.

* * *

“Father?” Penny asked, looking down at her lap. Pietro looked up from her boots, laying across his lap with the fuel compartment open and ready to be filled.

“Is something wrong, Penny?” he asked gently.

“...yes. Something has been wrong for a while,” Penny admitted. “I thought I had learned what was happening myself, and dismissed it, but…”

“You know you can tell me anything,” Pietro said, patting her calf. 

“Yes, well, I was...I wanted to prove myself. But I suppose that was silly.” Penny couldn’t stand to look him in the eye. “I’ve been having malfunctions. Minor, they don’t impact my operations and do not put me at risk, but they are concerning nonetheless.”

“What sort of malfunctions?” Pietro asked, picking up a fuel can from the floor. “Hold still.”

“They are connected to a certain...individual. When I am in close contact with them, strange things happen to some basic functions.” 

Pietro paused, his can halfway to Penny’s boot. “Oh?”

“My core temperature rises. My speech functions become delayed. Sometimes I click, or cough.” Penny shrugged. “They are not threatening to my continued operation, but you should probably check me over again. No one needs to see me malfunctioning in public.”

Pietro laughed softly. “What is all this, Penny?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why are you talking like this? You’re not usually so technical about yourself,” Pietro said, smiling gently at her. “Why, what you’re going through sounds so normal to me I’d consider it a feature, not a bug.”

“How can it be a feature?” Penny asked, looking up at last as her father closed the compartment on her boot and set it back on the floor, then walked his chair a few steps closer and reached for her hand. “There is no explanation for the phenomenon!”

“Of course there is.” Pietro gently wrapped his hand around hers. “It sounds like you have a crush.”

Penny shook her head vigorously. “No. It can’t be that.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not a real girl!” Penny exclaimed, balling her hands into fists. 

“Of course you are, Penny,” Pietro said gently, but Penny shook her head violently.

“I’m not! I’m just a machine, just Ironwood’s robot! That’s all anyone sees me as and I was stupid to think I was anything else!” Something was grinding inside Penny’s body, her fans whirring loudly, and she wished, more than anything, that she could cry, but that thought just further proved she wasn’t real, and she just squeezed her eyes shut in shame, though even then she could still see beyond them with her infrared sensors, and everything, everything was wrong with her, why wouldn’t her father just fix it and make her normal again?

“Oh, come here, my girl,” Pietro said softly, and though Penny shook her head, knowing she was no girl at all, she got up and walked into his arms, letting him hold her and stroke her back. “No Knight would talk like that, would they?” he asked, squeezing her tight.

“What?”

“No Knight has to deny it’s a person. No Knight ever thought it was anything but a machine,” Pietro said carefully. “No Knight gets upset and wants a hug from the person who assembled it, does it?”

“That—that’s not relevant,” Penny said, and she hiccuped.

Pietro laughed. “And no Knight tries to lie and act like it doesn’t know what I’m getting at.” Pietro’s chair pulled back, and he took her hands. “Penny, I know you’re a real girl. As real as I am. I gave up a part of myself to create you, and you’ve become nothing like me at all! Even when I was a boy you didn’t see me running around fighting Grimm and saving the city. I was cooped up reading manuals all day. If you were just a machine with my aura slapped on top of it, you wouldn’t be the way you are now, would you?”

“I...suppose not,” Penny admitted. “But—”

“You wouldn’t have asked to be made a girl in the first place, would you?”

“No,” Penny said, closing her eyes. “But I’m not _real._ ”

“I’m sitting here holding your hands, and they feel real enough to me, Penny.” Pietro smoothed a thumb over the back of Penny’s hand. “You know as well as I do that you aren’t some malfunctioning machine, killing innocent people because of a crossed switch. You have video evidence in your brain about that, don’t you?”

“But that’s why I’m not real,” Penny insisted. “Girls don’t have videographic memory.”

“Most men don’t have four mechanical legs,” Pietro noted. “It doesn’t make me any less of a man, now does it?”

“But…”

“I know, I know, it’s not exactly the same. But everything you’ve shown me tonight shows me you’re a person like anyone else.” Pietro smiled warmly at her, lifting her chin up. “You’re a girl, whose emotions have an effect on how her body feels. There’s nothing unusual about that at all, you just do it a little differently.”

“Father—”

“Penny Polendina,” Pietro warned, “I brought you into this world. I know exactly who you are. You’re my daughter. Not my invention, and certainly not _Ironwood’s robot._ ”

“But that’s how everyone sees me.”

“Is it?” Pietro asked. “Really?”

Penny’s memory went into playback, and she heard Ruby’s voice. _You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me?_ _You're not like those things we saw back there. You've got a heart, and a soul; I can feel it!_

“...no,” Penny admitted. “Not everyone.”

“Hyperbole because you’re emotional. Another incredibly human thing for you to be doing, isn’t it?”

Penny smiled softly. “I suppose so.”

“So who’s the lucky hunter?” Pietro asked, a gleam in his eye.

“I never mentioned she was a huntress!”

“A girl? Ruby!” Pietro said with a laugh. “Of course.”

“You are very perceptive,” Penny grumbled, her core temperature rising again. 

“I’m a top Atlas scientist,” Pietro pointed out. “And your father.”

“...thank you,” Penny said softly. 

“How long have you been thinking this way? Is this why you’ve been so quiet?” Pietro accused.

“Since election night. I failed, father.”

“You did nothing of the sort. No one there acted faster than you. No one could’ve expected Tyrian Callows to come back from the dead to disrupt a political rally,” Pietro insisted. “When you go out to the Schnees’ tonight, I want you to remember what we talked about. No matter how anyone there tries to make you feel, know that there are people who _know_ you, and know what a special person you are.”

“I...I will try.”

“And Ruby will be there too. She’ll support you, I know it,” Pietro said. “Her team will back her up on that, too, I’ve never seen such a tight-knit group. You’re in good hands with them. And, maybe when things settle down...you can talk to Ruby about how you feel.”

“I want to,” Penny admitted. “But I don’t know how. I don’t even know what to do about it.”

“I doubt Ruby has much more of an idea than you do,” Pietro said with a laugh.

“But what if I come between her and her partner? I did that before.” Penny stood up and paced nervously back and forth. “But then...then all three of us were going out on missions together, and we did very well…”

“Then I’d say there’s nothing to worry about. Penny...I hope you know how happy I am for you. And how proud,” Pietro said, walking his chair beside her to match her pace. “I never thought when I started building you that we’d get to have a conversation about who you’re interested in. You’re extraordinary.”

Penny felt warmth throughout her core, and stopped, smiling to herself. “I suppose it is something you expect from a daughter, not a machine.”

“Exactly. But when you first started talking to me, I knew you were special.” Pietro took her hand again. “You’ve given me a lot to love, a lot I didn’t think I’d get in this life, this late. I’m so grateful you are who you are.”

Penny leaned down and hugged him tight, wishing once again that she could cry, but this felt like enough. So she couldn’t cry. Like her father said, it didn’t make her any less of a person.

The door to the office opened, and General Ironwood stepped inside, clearing his throat. “Pietro. Penny needs to come with us.”

“Go on, Penny,” Pietro urged. “I’ll be here when you get back.”

Penny straightened up and looked Ironwood in the eye. “I am ready, sir.”

Pietro watched her go with a smile on his face, and Penny left with some small spark of hope in her core.


	7. Sinus Rhythm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the free day, I chose to write a 100-word drabble. Thanks so much to everyone who commented, kudos'd, or bookmarked, this was a lot of fun!

It came down to timing, in the end.

It had seemed so important, before the heat turned off. Despite everything, Ruby still hoped that things in Atlas and Mantle could turn around, that they’d have their moment of rest. 

Timing was Penny’s enemy.

Her plan to stay at Beacon fell apart like her own body at the Vytal festival. Her plan to tell Ruby her feelings went almost the same way.

Then she found herself in an airship, new power burning inside of her, Weiss and Ruby on either side, holding her. In that moment, she knew she was loved.


End file.
